The Games To Live and Die For
by TheClassicCrime1
Summary: What if the rebels went through with having a final Hunger Games with kids from the Capital?For Serena Snow,President Snow's granddaughter,it means a fight not only for her life but also a fight to find the courage to survive for a love she never expected
1. The Sounds of Madness

**Hey guys! So this is my new story based on President Snow's granddaughter in an AU where the rebels actually went through with making the children of the Capital go through one, final Hunger Games. This story is different from what I normally do so give me a little time to get a hang of it. I'll do my best to keep it as true to the real Hunger Games trilogy as I can! **

**Oh, and Serena's appearance is based on Lily Collins' (she has been featured in pictures lately with red hair and she was my inspiration!). I know it helps me to visual the story when I know what the characters are supposed to look like.**

**Anyways, read on!**

* * *

"Serena Snow!"

I should have been more surprised that my name was reaped but I wasn't. Seeing as my grandfather was the man who allowed kids to be slaughtered for the past forty plus years, I would have thought the rebels would have just killed my entire family after they won the war against the Capitol. But no, they killed my entire family…expect me. The rebels voted and they decided to leave me to fight to the death in the last ever Hunger Games that was set to feature the kids who never had to worry about their names being drawn to compete, the ones who grew up watching the games annually, the privileged kids.

And I was the most privileged of them all.

I knew I was dead before I even left my seat.

My eyes drifted to look at the other girls in our eighteen-year-old section and saw that every single eye was focused on me. My friends and classmates looked strange without their usual bucket loads of makeup and multicolored wigs; the rebels outlawed the use of such useless and petty tools once they took over the government. Though I never wore a wig, always allowing my auburn hair to fall in their natural waves, I felt naked without my makeup mask; even if I had it on I'm sure everyone here, and everyone watching all over Panem, would have been able to see right through it to see how frightened I truly was.

So, when I stood up from my seat and started to slowly walk up to the platform where Caesar Flickerman stood with the ten tributes that had been picked before me, my entire body was shaking. I concentrated on the man in front of me, hoping that would take my attention away from what had just happened.

Our beloved television host did not wear his usual bright smile during this day, I noticed; because it was Capital kids that were going to die, I concluded, instead of the ones that resided far off in distant lands that we only saw during their public reapings. Everything about the games was more real now to everyone, including Caesar.

The walk up to the platform from the back of the auditorium went by almost too quickly and the next thing I knew Caesar was at the stairs, extending a hand for me to hold as my shaky body rose to the platform. The man gave me a sympathetic smile before extending his arm in the direction of where the other tributes were standing. I nodded to him before going over to the other kids and taking my position.

Caesar went back to the two, large glass bowl and turned to the one on the right to select a boy's name.

"Tyus Moore!"

A black haired boy from the middle of the fourteen-year-old group stood up, looking as if he was going to throw up, before walking down the aisle and coming up to the stage to shake hands with Caesar. Tyus moved from the announcer to take the empty space next to me.

Caesar was now back to the girls' bowl and fishing around for the next name to pick.

I didn't listen to any more of the names being called. I zoned out, taken to a place where I thought about how all of this could be happening, not only to me but also to the other Capital kids, and the kids from the districts that came before us. What would possess someone to kill children? It all just seemed so messed up to me; I never realized that before. I'd grown up on the Games, attending the parties, interviews, and shows since I was thirteen years old. It was just something we did and never really thought about. No, I never took sides, cheering when tributes won and booing when they died.

Yes, I might not have participated in the betting and the sponsorships but I was an onlooker, allowing this madness to continue, and that sounds just as bad.

Now that I was in the Games I cannot help but wonder what the hell we were all thinking. What did we think the Hunger Games would prove to the districts? It all just seemed too cruel and barbaric for such civilized people.

But that is the point of all of this: to show all of the people of the Capital what the Hunger Games can do. Us, the twenty-four tributes from the city, were going to be made an example of. We would be going through hell and only one of us would be allowed to come back from it…or so they say. I'm not even sure if they are going to let one tribute become a victor. It's not like we deserve to live when so many of them have already died because of the Games.

I stayed in my catatonic state until all the tributes had been selected and Caesar moves back to his microphone at the center of the stage. "And so we have it, ladies and gentlemen," He says without his usual zest and zeal. The man didn't just sound different but he looked different, as well. Flickerman had been captured after the rebels took the Capital, tortured, and forced to announce these Games despite his protests.

His hair that changed color every year for the Games was not nonexistent now, I noticed; it was then that I realized that his capture brought his actual age to light. Caesar Flickerman, for the first time ever, looked old and weathered. If a man with that amount of cosmetic surgery could look awful, I wondered what they would do to us in the two short weeks before we went into the arena. We'd all probably look like the district kids—nothing but skin and bones.

"Let's hear it for this year's tributes!" Caesar shouts with at least an attempt at joy in his voice.

My eyes leave Caesar to look at the audience and see that no one is willing to clap. They are all too scared, too out of their element to know what to do. The people of the Capital were only proving that we could dish out the hell of the Hunger Games but not take it. We were too pampered, too weak.

Caesar waited a moment, seeing if anyone would start a round of applause but it never came. He looked at the audience then the twenty-four of us, before starting to laugh anxiously. "Well, thank you all for coming for the 76th Hunger Games reaping ceremony!" He turned to look at us then. "And to our tributes, may the odds be ever in your favor!"

The cameraman at the back of the auditorium made some kind of hand motion before yelling "Clear!", signaling that we were now off air. Caesar's fake smile fell and he left the stage without so much as a look in our general direction. The next instant a couple of rebel guards—well, I suppose they aren't rebel guards anymore but just the normal kind since the takeover—started to usher the twenty-four of us backstage and then down a long hallway. No one spoke or looked around. We've been around the Games long enough to know that tributes weren't suppose to talk or interact with anyone or anything when they were on the move like this.

The guards opened what looked to be an emergency exit door and started motioning us out into the bright sunlight that contrasted so awfully with our gray and somber moods.

I stepped out onto the sidewalk right outside the building and noticed that there was a huge crowd of hundreds that had gathered since all of the Capital children had been ushered into the auditorium. It seemed like it was a mixture between parents, Capital citizens, and rebels; I heard both cries of sorrow and cries of anger that taunted us, saying we were getting what we deserved.

The little twelve-year-old boy I was standing next to, I think his name was Lawson, gasped slightly at the sight of the crowd and began looking down at his feet as he tried to escape the shouting and yelling. Instinctively, I placed my hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him.

The guards let us stand there a moment longer to linger in the raging hate and pain that emanated from the crowd, before pushing us back into motion through the crowd in order to get to the training building. People were pressing against us on every side all the while. Some wanted to give the tributes sympathy flowers while others, the rebels mostly, just wanted to scare us even more than we already were. I tried to keep my head facing forward in order to ignore their blind hate but it was nearly impossible to tune out what they were saying.

"You deserve to die!"

"What goes around comes around, spoiled brats!"

"Let's see how well the prim-and-propers do with a sword in their guts!"

I could keep most of these comments from penetrating me but once I heard someone call out my name, I had to turn and look for the source.

"Hey, Serena!"

The voice was coming from a man, probably in his mid-twenties, right in front of me in the crowd. I looked over at him, wondering if I recognized him from somewhere but, without all of our makeup and disguises on, it was very difficult to distinguish who Capital people were at times. I was right next to him when the man spoke again. "My sister died because of your grandfather!" He shouted right in my ear, as he started moving with the line of tributes. I turned my eyes away from him and tried to ignore him but he would not allow it.

"She would be alive today if it wasn't for your family!" He shouted again before putting a hand on my shoulder, making me stop and stare into his hate filled brown eyes.

The next thing I knew I felt a sharp pain in my stomach and a huge rush of air escaped my lungs. I looked down to my stomach to see that the man had stabbed me; his hand was still on the knife that was wedged deep in my abdomen. "You don't deserve to fight for your life." He snarled. "You deserve to die, right here, right now."

The man was tackled by guards the next instant and I fell to the ground, in a state of shock. The people in the crowd and the children around me started screaming and panicking; we weren't accustomed to seeing actual violence in the streets of the Capital, only on the television.

I felt myself begin to shake and grow dizzy. Guards piled around me, creating a barricade as one checked over my wounds. He started speaking to me but I couldn't hear anything he was saying. The world around me was silent as I felt the full extent of my injury. The guards around me were talking into their mouthpieces and beating off members of the crowd and I just stared up into the sky as my vision began to grow dim.

It looked like the fight for my life would start here, in the streets of the Capital, rather than in the arena.

* * *

My eyes fluttered open as the sound of a distinct beeping noise kept sounding over and over, allowing me no more rest. Once my head stopped spinning, I concluded that I was at the hospital, handcuffed to the bed. I tried to sit up but the restraints kept me down against the mattress.

The only person in the hospital room is me and that knowledge scares me slightly. Alone, tied to a bed—not exactly my ideal situation. It takes me a moment to remember what happened that caused me to be tied to this bed in this hospital.

I was stabbed…after I was selected to be a tribute in the 76th Hunger Games.

But I can't think about all of that right now, it would be too much; only one situation at a time. Instead of concentrating on the latter, I turned my attention to my stomach where my stab wound had been and I realized that I didn't feel any pain. Well, perhaps a slight soreness but besides that I felt completely cured.

"Ahh, you are awake." A doctor-I'm pretty sure he was one from District 13, I could tell because he had wrinkles that a Capital doctor would never allow to show on his face-came in to the room just then, caring a clipboard and followed by two guards. "Excellent. How do you feel? You've been out for about twelve hours, I'm afraid. I bet you are kind of groggy."

"I'm okay," I said. I thought about lying about my injuries, saying I felt terrible and couldn't compete in the Games but realized soon after that would probably only end with me getting killed here instead.

I had to die. The man who stabbed me knew it and so did I. It was the only way that the people from the twelve districts would feel justice for what they had gone through for the last seventy-five years: an eye for an eye, a dead kid for dead kid.

But if I decided to go ahead and compete in the Games instead of getting shot in this hospital room, then I would have a longer amount of time to live…and I wasn't ready to die just yet.

"Excellent, excellent." The doctor said, checking things off on my charter. "We gave you a dose of a new medication we are trying out, it is supposed to heal wounds fifty times faster than they naturally would, and it seems that it has worked on you." I think he was more excited about his medicine than me feeling better.

"When will she be able to return to training building?" The guard closest to him asked in a monotone voice.

The doctor sighed before coming over to the bed and lifting up my hospital gown to look at the wound on my stomach. "Well, would you look at that!" The doctor said. "It is almost completely healed." He put my gown down and looked at me with a smile. "This is excellent."

I gave him the smallest smile possible; I personally didn't think it was too _excellent_ to be stabbed.

"So, can she go back?" The guard asked again, impatient this time.

"Oh, absolutely." The doctor said with a definite nod of his head. "She will be as good as new by the time she enters the arena."

The guard nodded to the doctor before whispering to his partner. The partner nodded and left the room. The first guard then came over to my bed and undid the handcuffs around my wrist. I took my right wrist in my left hand and began to absently rub the raw, red skin.

"Miss Snow, since there has already been an attempt on your life, and threats of more attempts such as this to come, we have put you under the protection of a personal bodyguard until the time you are put into the arena." The guard explained nonchalantly, earning himself a confused look from me.

"What? This is ridiculous. Why are people trying to kill me when I'm going to be dead within the next three weeks, anyway?" I asked him.

"Because there is no guarantee that you will actually die." A new voice said from the doorway. I turnedd to see a face I recognized very well from television. He had been featured in the last two Hunger Games' broadcasts along with commentary during the battle: this man was Gale Hawthorne.

_What was he doing here? _I think the question to myself but don't have time to respond because I'd much rather get answers from them instead of me.

"They think I can actually win this thing?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow.

The man shrugs his shoulders. "Personally, I think you'll be dead within a matter of hours but for some people this is a chance they aren't willing to take." He said before going over the table under the window and grabbing the simple black dress I wore to the reaping. "Now, get changed," he said. "I want to get you back to the training building before the media leads the mobs here."

Gale chucked my dress at me and I caught it…with my face. "Wait, you-you are my bodyguard?" My voice sounded just as shocked as I felt.

I guess I didn't really think about it before but he was wearing the new, standard guard uniform: a pair of black slacks, a white button-down shirt, and a black tie.

He couldn't be my bodyguard though; I have been in the room with this man for two minutes and he already hated me. Plus, I heard he went to District Two to work on some sort of technology project. And he was the Mockingjay's best friend…Katniss Everdeen, the girl that my grandfather put through hell and back.

I knew that Gale Hawthorne didn't want to help me. I wasn't stupid. Either he was forced into it or there was something he was getting out of it.

"You have a problem with that?" He asked, giving me a slight glare.

I shook my head furiously, knowing I was probably safer with him than any of these new guards, fresh out of training. Gale had been part of the squad that had infiltrated the Capital, he made it all the way to my grandfather's street before he was captured and even then he escaped an hour later.

If I trusted anyone to keep me safe it was Gale Hawthorne; but, then again, if I trusted anyone to kill me without a second thought it would be him too.

The man nodded firmly. "Get dressed and don't try anything funny. I'll meet you out here when you are done."

By something funny I assumed he meant me trying to kill myself and I wasn't going to do that. Like I said, I planned on staying alive as long as I could. Quickly, I threw on my dress and slipped into my high-heeled shoes. I went over to the mirror then and checked my reflection. Yes, I had just been stabbed and was now on my way to the training center but being brought up in the Capital taught me that there is absolutely no excuse for not looking your best at all times.

My dark red hair was frizzy but still straight with a slight wave to it, as it always was. My skin looked pale and sunken, as if I had already been in the arena for a few days, and my blue eyes looked dull and dingy.

I pinched my checks in hope of bringing a little color back into then and I must admit that I felt a little relived when a slight red tint appeared. This was as good as it was going to get though, unfortunately.

A pound at the door sounded and I realized that my bodyguard was even more impatient than I thought he was originally. Opening the door, I saw that Gale was standing with his back to me, keeping an eye on the hallway.

"Are the assassins in the hallway?" I asked him jokingly.

"They might be. It's hard to tell the people from the districts from those of the Capital now." Gale turned to look me over once. "Everyone is a suspect until we get back to the training building." The next second he grabbed my arm and began to drag me towards the elevator. My short legs needed to jog in order to keep up with his long strides.

"And when we get to the training building?" I asked him. We were now in the elevator and speeding upwards to, what I'm assuming is the helipad with a hovercraft waiting.

"Then only most everyone is a suspect." He told me humorlessly. "People really hate you."

"You don't say?" I whispered the words under my breath but knew he heard me because he turned slightly to look at me from the corner of his eye.

The rest of the elevator ride was silent; the only sound to be heard was the loud _ding! _that announced we had reached our destination. Gale took my arm again and led me over the hovercraft. Since we were on the roof of the hospital building I noticed now that it was nighttime, the moon was shining brightly in the sky.

The doors of the hovercraft were open, waiting for us, and we went swiftly over to our transportation. Gale was barely allowing me to walk there; I swear the man was dragging me across the helipad.

The hovercraft was smaller than I was accustomed to, but still roomy, with enough space to hold the two of us along with several other rebel guards and the pilot. Gale threw me in a seat, barking at me to sit, before taking the seat next to mine and just like that we were off.

If we were at the hospital I thought we were, then that would mean we were only five minutes from the training center, a distance we could have very easily driven or walked, but Gale was having nothing to do with that. He was all business and his business was to get me to the training center in one piece.

"You have the penthouse all to yourself, it's easier to protect you that way." Gale said after we had been flying for a couple minutes. "So it looks like some of your spoiled Capital friends will be shacked up three in a room instead of two…oh, the outrage of it all."

I didn't give any response to his pointed comment, knowing that he really wasn't looking for one. He just wanted to poke fun at me…try to set me off. But I wasn't going to cave, not for Gale Hawthorne. Of course he was good looking with his short dark hair and eyes along with his tall frame and muscular physic. And I'm sure he was used to girls throwing themselves at his feet because he was so handsome but once you talked to him face-to-face you knew right away how full of hate he really was.

I crossed my arms and looked away from him, deciding that I would just ignore everything that came out of his mouth until we arrived, which didn't take long at all, actually. It turned out that I was right: we were only a five-minute flight from the training center.

The hovercraft began to land on the building's roof and a moment later opened its doors to allow Gale and I off. I looked around at the other men, wondering if they too would be escorting me in but they all just stayed in their seats, completely oblivious to the fact that I was leaving. It was a strange feeling, to be ignored, that was for sure.

Gale started tugging on my arm more, probably thinking I was moving too slow once again. The instant we were clear of the hovercraft, it took off again leaving the two of us alone to make our way inside.

My bodyguard kept pulling me through the penthouse, not even allowing me time to take in my surroundings. I suddenly felt angry that he is still pushing and tugging me around. "Okay, I get it. You are the one in control. Now can you let go of me and just tell me where you would like me to go, please?"

Gale said nothing. He instead just kept dragging me through the penthouse until he came to a bedroom at the end of a long hallway. He walked down to steps that led to the main area of the room where the bed and bedside table resided before he finally let go of my arm. "You stay here." He instructed before starting to leave.

"Well, where are you going?" I asked him, causing the man to pause only long enough to yell the words over his shoulder.

"To make sure there isn't anything in here that wants to kill you."

"Obviously." I sighed, resorting to sitting down on the bed and looking around at my new sleeping quarters.

It was a decent enough room, I supposed. The bed was large and comfortable and the furniture was modern. It was well decorated but kind of depressing: everything was a shade of gray or black. Yes, I was going off to the Games to die but that didn't mean I wanted to live like I was already dead.

I thought about my room back home and how much I wished I were there right now. The walls were yellow; not an obnoxious lemon yellow but a pale yellow that you would think was a nude color at first glance. But when the sunlight hit it right, the walls lit up and made the entire space feel almost like a grassy meadow. To contrast the yellow walls, all of the furnishings in my room were white with clean lines.

It had been my space; the place I escaped to when I needed solitude and comfort from this strange world in which I lived in.

But I wouldn't be finding any of that in this room, I could already tell.

I waited a few more minutes until Gale came back into the room. Since he had left he had taken off his black tie, undid the top couple of buttons on his shirt, and rolled his sleeves up to the elbows. "It's all clear."

I nodded. "Thanks."

The man nodded back to me. "It'd probably be a good idea if you got some sleep. You've had a long day and training starts first thing in the morning."

Training? Starting tomorrow morning? I stood up then when I felt a sense of shock run through me. "Training? Tomorrow morning? I don't even get some sort of pass the first day after being stabbed?"

Gale tilted his head at me and raised an eyebrow. "Listen, Princess, rules are rules. Training starts the day after the reaping and we both know that you could use some combat assistance." The man looked over my small five-two frame and shook his head like I was something to be pitied. "You should take advantage of it while you can; after all, the Gamemakers didn't give you an extra week of training just so you could sit around and get your nails done or whatever it is that your people did around here before we took over…You're expected to train in order to kill people, to survive, and you aren't going to do that laying around here feeling sorry for yourself."

"I understand." I told him in hopes that he would just stop talking. I knew the importance of training, I really did, but I just didn't know how much good I would be tomorrow. Yes, I was feeling better but that didn't mean I wasn't shaken up over what happened this morning. To be honest, I was really scared; but I guess that was what Gale Hawthorne was here for, to make me feel safe in this unsafe environment.

Gale nodded again. "Besides, the other kids will think more of you if you show up. They'll think you are a hell of a lot strong than you actually are."

I felt a surge of anger wash over me again but didn't act on it…I wouldn't, well, not tonight, anyway. I was too tired to get into an altercation with my bodyguard. I stood up from the bed and went over to the window, deciding to look down at the great city that turned into a place of ruin. I hoped that this action would have given Gale the hint that I was done talking to him but no such luck.

"I guess there are pajamas and things in the drawers and in the bathroom for you to use." He said, a weak attempt at civility that I didn't give a response to. I heard Gale sigh before speaking again. "I'll be down the hall if you need me."

These were the words that made me spin to look at him. "You are staying here? With me?" I asked, feeling even angrier than I had been before. Besides being stabbed again, the last thing I wanted was to be sharing a living space with Gale Hawthorne.

"Well, yeah, Serena." He said, using my name for the first time since I met him. "Why do you think you have the whole penthouse to yourself? It's not so you feel special, it's so I can be close by to protect you."

"So you really think people are going to get past all the security on the ground floor, make it all the way up here to the twelfth floor, and strangle me while I sleep instead of just waiting for me to die in the Games? And even if they were to make it all the way up here, how would they get away without anyone capturing them? I realize that you think I am some sort of self-absorbed, pampered princess—and maybe I am—but that doesn't mean I think people are going to go to that extreme of lengths just to get rid of little old me when I am already scheduled to die." I snapped the words at him, feeling myself pant for air once I was finished. I have never blow up at a person like that before; it was not in the nature of a Capital woman to show her anger, only let it festered inside of her.

Already these games were changing me.

Gale stared at me for a second, a slight smirk played on his face all the while…I assume you that I would have liked nothing more than to slap it off him at that moment. "For you, Serena Snow, I'm not sure what lengths people will go to. But I'm betting they would go pretty far." He said and with those words he exited my bedroom, leaving me truly alone for the first time since this morning before the reaping.

Had it really been only this morning that my fate had been decided? Was it only six months since I had been orphaned? Both of these things seemed like a lifetime ago to me.

I toke off my dress, not even bothering to go find pajamas, and slipped into bed where I rolled onto my side and stared once again at the Capital City that had fallen so far from grace. Not only had the city fallen, I realized, but also the people had fallen along with it.

I mean, look at me for instance. I was the granddaughter of the former president of Panem who was now imprisoned in a penthouse to await a battle where I would need to fight to the death; I truly had fallen so far from my former glory. No longer was I loved, but instead hated. I would no longer invited to enjoy parties, but have them thrown in honor of my death.

But, I suppose, that Serena—the one who lived before the war for Panem—was long gone. Once the Capital people lost control, she was just lost. My life was over from the moment they captured my grandfather. Now, with the last ever Hunger Games, the rebels would just make my end official.

With this knowledge I fell into a restless sleep where I dreamed of hatred, fear, and death: all of the things that ruled my new, mad world now.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed it! Please let me know what you think! I found it a little difficult to try and write a teenage from the Capital…I didn't want Serena to be completely superficial but realize that she is going to be that way because of the way she was brought up. So I hope you guys think I found a happy medium; its really tough to make a great OC but I hope mine isn't completely intolerable. Lol Thank you for reading and I hope you continue to do so! **


	2. Good Morning Revival

**Hey guys! Here's chapter two! Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

Running, just running.

Running from the rebels who had formed a mob around my house, running from the men with guns who stole my parents from their bedroom in the middle of the night and were searching the mansion for me next. Running to get away from the man who caught up to me in the ballroom and grabbed me by the hair before he forced me outside, to the center of the mob, to watch as a firing squad lined up in front of my terrified mother and father.

Then, there was no more running.

There was screaming.

My parents were screaming out my name, screaming for the rebels not to hurt me. I was screaming for them to spare my parents' lives. The rebels were screaming, yelling in rage, over the fact that the three of us were alive.

They wanted our blood, plain and simple. It was the only thing that would stop the screaming and stop the running.

The one who was pulling me by the hair pushed me down so I was on my knees, staring into the faces of my parents. My mother was crying and my father looked as if he were close too. I kept shifting my gaze from each of them, wishing I could say something but they were too far away to hear me.

I began to cry then.

The men with the guns took their aim, pointing at both my mother and father. An older woman stepped out in front of the gunmen and started counting.

"One!"

"Please don't do this." I said to the man holding me.

"Two!"

"Please! I'm begging you!" The gruff man didn't answer me, just pulled my hair tighter and caused me to cry out in pain.

"Three!"

"NO!"

* * *

"No! Please, stop it!"

"Serena, wake up!"

Someone was shaking me really hard and I couldn't help but think it was the man who dragged me out of my house that fateful night. I couldn't open my eyes, my sight still frozen on the sight of my parents' bodies dropping lifeless to the cold brick streets. I started scratching, clawing, kicking, and doing anything I could to make them let go of me.

"Serena! What the hell is the matter with you? Wake the hell up!"

Then suddenly the voice registered in my mind; I knew who this person was. My blue eyes slowly opened to see the gray ones of Gale Hawthorne, my reluctant bodyguard. My breathing came rapidly as I pulled myself from the thickness of the nightmare. The sight of my dead parents began to disappear and all that was left was Gale. I took a deep breath and pushed my hair out of my face. "Sorry." I said.

He grunted before reaching up to inspect a nice scratch that had began to bleed on his left cheek, courtesy of my thrashing around. "Just get up. I'll meet you in the dining room in five minutes."

Gale got up and left then, nothing more or less to say. "Good morning to you, too!" I shouted at him as I listened to the sound of his combat boots pound down the marble hallway.

I sighed as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and pushed the covers off of me. A slight gasp escaped my lips when I realized that I was in nothing but my underwear and Gale had just been in here. Had he seen anything? I really hoped not.

I pulled the covers back up to my chin for a second, knowing that Gale had left my bedroom door wide open and he could be out there stalking, guarding, whatever it was that he did, but when I heard him out in the kitchen, fiddling with something I figured that I would have enough time to make a break to the bathroom.

I ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind me. Taking one more deep breath, I finally started to feel my fast beating heart slow down to a normal rate. I went over to the sink and splashed cold water on my face in an attempt to wake me. I was not really sure what time it was but based on how groggy I felt it has to be very early; before the war I wouldn't get out of bed before ten in the morning and now I felt like I awoke earlier and earlier every day.

This lack of sleep was definitely starting to show too. There were dark circles under my puffy blue eyes and my face looked sunken, shallow. I looked exhausted because I was exhausted. I sighed, thinking how awful I looked, and decided to do something about that. Digging around in the drawers, I thankfully found some basic makeup supplies—the only ones that were allowed by the rebels now.

There was some concealer, a tube of liquid eyeliner, and mascara. It wasn't much but enough to make me feel slightly more human that I did without anything on. Once I applied the makeup, I turned the focus to my long red hair, wondering how I should style it for training.

A ponytail would probably be the easiest, most acceptable way of doing it but wouldn't I want to stand out some to the Gamemakers? Standing out was key to getting sponsors—not that I was expecting any—and it gave you an edge over the other contestants.

"Any time, princess!" I heard Gale's annoyed voice call to me from the bedroom. I wrinkled my nose in disgust back at him, even though he couldn't see me, and decided on French braiding both sides of my hair back into a low ponytail that I threw over my left shoulder. It wasn't stylist perfect hair, obviously, but it wasn't hideous either. I finished my morning routine by brushing my teeth and rummaging in the closet for the designated training uniform. The uniform consisted of a pair of spandex/polyester blend pants and a top of the same fabrics; both pieces were charcoal gray and had red stripes down the sides. I threw on the shoes next—a pair of ugly combat boots—and then took a step back to check myself over in the mirror.

I decided I looked presentable…barely. But I supposed that was my life now, barely making it through. It was not ideal but it was what it was and that was something I was going to have to live with, that is, until I die.

I shrugged to myself in the mirror before opening the bathroom door and exiting my room. I head in the direction of the kitchen where I assumed Gale was waiting for me impatiently. Sure enough, the man was sitting at the table with a plate of food in front of him and a gun in his hand that he was cleaning.

Gale offered me a quick glance before returning his gaze to his gun. "I would ask you how you slept but it obviously wasn't well."

"Obviously." I said as I crossed my arms in an attempt to keep my anger in check. I approached the table to see that there was a plate of eggs, toast, and bacon at an empty seat across from Gale. It wasn't the typical meal the cooks would make and I was slightly confused. "Did they really send this up?" I asked him, wrinkling my nose at it.

Gale shook his head but didn't bother to look at me. "No, princess, they didn't. The tributes aren't getting special treatment this year. No cooks, no stylists, no mentors. Just guards." He gave me a sarcastic smile. "I did something miraculous this morning called getting up early and making my own breakfast."

My gaze shifted from him to the food and then back again. I sat down at the seat and poured myself a glass of orange juice from a pitcher on the table. After I took a sip, I picked up my knife and fork and stared down the unappetizing meal in front of me.

I heard Gale drop the gun, causing me to look up at him to see that he had his arms crossed across his chest as he waited for me to take a bite. Oh, so he thought this was funny? That I was a big joke because of the way I was raised?

Yes, since I was born I had a cook in my home and that's just how it was. It's what I had come to expect and a lifetime of habits could not be broken in one day's time. I pursed my lips as I looked back to my eggs, cut a piece, and picked it up with my fork. Quickly, I stuffed it in my mouth and chewed, my eyes on Gale the entire time. This 'princess' wasn't backing down.

"So?" He asked, sounding completely uninterested.

I continued to chew the piece of egg slowly. "So, I think you are the one who is trying to kill me now." I teased him before taking a sip from my orange juice glass, washing down the taste of the eggs.

The man raised an eyebrow at that comment. Was he actually insulted? It turned out that he was because the next thing I knew he stood up, reached across the table, and stole the plate from me. He scoped the contents onto his own plate before placing it back in front of me. Gale piled a huge amount of eggs on his fork before shoving it into his mouth. He chewed the food with a smile on his face.

I leaned back in my chair as I watched him eat both my breakfast and his. He continued to eat as if to rub it in my face but it had no effect on me. In fact, I thought I had a great impact on him, instead. Finally, I let out a little laugh. "I don't believe it."

"And what's that, princess?" His mouth was full of food when he spoke.

"That you can dish out the insults and comments but you can't take them." I told him, causing Gale to stop chewing. "I mean, you have been insulting me since we met and now I say something in retaliation and you feel like you have to get back at me."

Gale swallowed his food, wiped his mouth off with a napkin, and stood up. He took his gun and tucked it into a holster on his hip before coming around to my side of the table and leaning down so close I could feel his hot breath on my neck. I'm assuming it was an attempt to intimidate me and, to be honest, it was kind of working. "And what makes you think you have any effect on me?" He paused, not really looking for an answering, before continuing. "Let's get one thing straight right here, right now. I am here for a job. Nothing more, nothing less. Once you are in the arena, I get to leave this city and never look back but until then we are stuck with each other, got it? So, don't make the mistake of thinking that we are friends or that I am doing you favors because I'm not."

He pushes himself off the table, sending my juice glass tumbling and a river of liquid to run down the table and onto the floor. I stayed seated for a moment, not knowing what to think because no one has ever talking to me like that. But after a second I realized that I was furious and I couldn't help myself; I had to react.

I stood up then, hearing as my metal chair scrapped across the marble floors. "Then what the hell are you doing here, Gale? You've made it painfully obvious that you hate me just as much as everyone else does, so why even bother with me? What did you do to get saddled with me?"

Gale stopped his retreat down the hallway and spun to look at me. His eyes were narrowed and dark. "I'm stuck with you because they think that people will be less likely to attack you if I'm here. I helped bring down your grandfather and they think that people won't want to risk a 'hero' as collateral damage." He paused to scoff. "Now, if we are done with the whole bonding thing would you get your bony ass over to the elevator? We are already late for your first training session. I'll be back in a second." Gale didn't even wait for a response before stomping the rest of the way down the hall to his room.

I felt the need to stomp my foot as well and throw a mini tantrum, but wouldn't allow myself too. Gale would just love that and I wasn't giving him the satisfaction. Instead I resorted to balling my hands into tight fists and swearing under my breath. As much as I didn't want to, I went to the elevator and waited for my escort to return.

It's strange though, that I was angry in this moment instead of nervous for my first day of training. It wasn't like this was going to be summer camp but boot camp, meant to prepare me and the other kids, most of whom are younger than me, to kill each other. It is safe to assume that none of us have even held a real weapon and would look absolutely ridiculous. But, then again, I suppose it would be easier to see who was strong and who was weak but it would still be pathetic.

"Are you going to push that?" Gale said, coming down the hallway with a blazer on over the customary white shirt and black slacks of the new guard force. He was doing the top button of his shirt up as he walked and then started to straighten his black tie.

"Oh, um, yes." I told him, pressing the down button a little harder than necessary. We stood awkwardly for a moment before the doors opened, revealing an empty glass elevator that overlooked the courtyard outside of the training building. I made a move to board when Gale puts his hand out to stop me. He stepped on first, checking the corners and the button panel before waving me on, giving me an all clear.

I raised one eyebrow at him curiously before entering the elevator. For someone who claimed to not give a damn about my safety Gale did a very thorough job. Stepping onto the elevator, I saw Gale roll his eyes. "Oh, I can't wait to hear this one." He whispered under his breath.

The elevator was now moving down towards the basement and I turned to face him. "I just don't understand why the government is going to such great lengths to keep me alive. It seems like everyone's main concern is that I will die…why not just let some one kill me and be down with it?"

"Because that's not the point." He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Because it's not about you dying…it's about getting closure for the districts."

I scoffed, feeling like everything he had just said was a total lie. "This isn't closure for the districts. It's payback and we should stop pretending otherwise."

"Well, if you knew the answer than why did you ask?" Gale snapped back at me right as the doors opened to the training center.

I dared a glance his way before walking out and stepping into the cold basement bunker-like area. To my immense surprise, my bodyguard stepped out after me. I spun at him. "What are you doing?"

He took a deep, frustrated breath. "Do you realize that you ask a billion questions? What does it look like I'm doing? I'm guarding you."

"But here?" I asked, looking around at all the others kids who were already staring at me like I was the odd man out. "No one else has a babysitter."

"Well you do, princess. Get used to it because do you see all those shiny, pointy objects? Those are weapons and some one could very easily kill you with one of those. I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen at the same time as I watch you make a fool of yourself while you train, got it?"

I pursed my lips and nodded my head reluctantly. What was the point of arguing with him anyway? Gale Hawthorne did what he wanted regardless of what anyone, especially me, thought.

I walked over to the other kids, who were already being lectured by the black haired man in charge of training named Gideon Hammond. He didn't say much, just the basics: we needed to use our time wisely and try every station, not just weapons. I would have thought weapons were the most important but apparently they didn't stress those as much as survival skills. It was an interesting way of handling the games but if it was a good enough strategy for the trainers then it was a good enough plan for me.

The man sets us loose and told us we were allowed to start wherever we would like. Most of the kids, despite his warning, went straight for the weapons because that is something they knew less than nothing about. Two girls, twins, around the age of fourteen, go over to the edible food station while the little boy who stood next to me at the reaping, Lawson, I think it was, stood awkwardly in the middle of the room before deciding to go over to the camouflage station. I suspected that he did this because of Peeta Mellark and how well he had managed to survive because he couldn't be found.

And then there was me…and Gale. I looked around the room, trying to find something that I could do while keeping an eye on my competition; I wanted to be able to see what everyone was capable of. It was a tactic I decided on using last night to measure my competition. My best bet, I decided, was to go over to the knot-tying station. I was actually quite good with knots and could get away with paying little attention with doing them while studying the other competitors.

Without saying anything to Gale, I went over to the knot station and smiled at the instructor who seemed content with ignoring me like everyone else. Gale came to the table and leaned against it, looking out at the other tributes to make sure that none of them tried to throw a spear at me or anything like that. I grabbed a length of rope before turning to join him. Absentmindedly, my hands began to twist the coarse cord into an intricate design meant to start the construction of a net.

My fingers moved by themselves for a moment as I watched as three sixteen year old boys, whose names I wasn't sure of yet, failed at knife throwing before I suddenly stopped when I felt eyes on me. I glanced over to see that Gale was studying my hands with a raised eyebrow, showing his confusion.

"What?" I asked with a little more bite to my tone than I meant to.

"Where did you learn to do that?" He asked in return, taking the knot from my hands and looking at it closely. It was actually a pretty perfect start to a net; I was surprised I remembered how to do that so well.

"Finnick Odair taught me." I explained, taking the rope back and undoing it. I walked away from Gale to go over to a pole, seeing if I could make another complicated knot that was meant to aid a climber up a tree. Gale followed me and began talking while I tied.

"You knew Finnick Odair?" He asked, now seriously confused.

I nodded my head, my eyes still trained on the movements that Finnick had showed my over and over. "Yeah, he was my escort to the games every year since I was thirteen…well, except the last year, of course." The knot was finished and I gave it a final tug before trying to heave myself up. I made it about two feet off the ground while holding onto my handle before giving up and falling back to the ground. I sighed. "He taught me a lot."

Gale's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, I bet he did."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" I asked, now starting to feel defensive. Why was he always trying to pick a fight or taunt me? It seemed too persistent; he was attacking me way too often for someone who just hated me. If he hated me he would just ignore me completely but no, he had to get his jabs in, didn't he?

Gale shrugged. "Nothing, I just know about Finnick's reputation in the Capital before the war and, well…if he was your escort then…"

My jaw dropped and I felt outraged. "I didn't sleep with him if that's what you are insinuating. Finnick was my friend-"

"Finnick Odair was your grandfather's whore that he liked to loan out. He wasn't your friend…He didn't care about you." Gale shot back, making me feel even angrier if that was possible.

I had always known that Finnick was a ladies man but when he started escorting me to the games, I found out that he was actually really sweet. Finnick would tell me stories about District Four and show me how to tie different knots while in the VIP rooms, sipping campaign. He would explain to me why different tributes acted and responded to different situations in the way that they did and he was really patient, like when I was younger and it took me a while to understand why the games would play out the way they did. It wasn't until Finnick came out with the propaganda commercial, revealing why he was always in the Capital in the past, that I found out what my grandfather had done to him.

I had told Finnick some of my secrets over the years; it was so easy to do when you looked into his beautiful eyes that were so inviting and seductive. But he didn't tell any of them when he ousted everyone else in the Capital who told him there deepest, darkest secrets. It is for this reason that I continued to think of him as my friend, that he wasn't acting with me.

So when Gale said that he didn't care about me, egging me on. I snapped, unable to control myself any longer. "Just like Katniss doesn't care about you, right?"

Right as the words left my mouth I regretted them. It was a low blow, one I knew I shouldn't have even tried to deal back. I was one of the few people in the Capital who realized that Katniss Everdeen and Gale were not cousins, that they were friends and kind of in love with each other. And now that she was back in District Twelve, and with Peeta according to the rumors, it had to hurt Gale to hear what I just said.

But then again, why should I care that I hurt his feels when he tries to pull the same stunts with me every moment? The answer is that I shouldn't feel bad…but I still did.

I was about to apologize when Gale's face completely fell. He wasn't wearing the usual scowl that accompanied seeing me, instead he just looked hurt, like I had found the one button to push that would set him off and I had completely demolished it. The man nodded slightly, his jaw clenched the whole while. "Yeah, princess, kind of like that."

Gale turned his back on me and we didn't speak for the rest of the day.

I sighed as I took my rope and quickly fastened a noose, wondering if I would be able to hang myself before anyone noticed. My eyes flinted back to Gale who was still only three feet away, turned away with his arms crossed, and acting like nothing had happened. If he didn't even come back with a snippy comment about me being a Capital brat or hated by anyone then I must have really, truly hurt him.

I felt terrible.

I shouldn't feel terrible.

But I did feel terrible.

What was wrong with me?

I sighed again before undoing my noose and going over to try my hand at the swords, Gale followed several steps behind me wordlessly. He was my ghost, ever haunting me physically and mentally.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed it! I realize that this seems like a very "A and B" kind of story but I'm just highlighting how isolated Serena really is from the world around her. Plus, I wanted to get in some background information on both of them and why they are where they are. In the next chapter Serena will be getting to know some of the other tributes, I promise! Please let me know what you think and thank you for reading! **


	3. Never Take Friendship Personal

**Hello all! I hope you are enjoying the story so far! Here we go with a new chapter! **

**Thanks for reading!  
**

* * *

That first day of training passed by so quickly I felt like my head was spinning. It went by so fast, too fast for my liking, and before I knew it I would be in the arena. As much as I hated making myself look like an ass in front of Gale Hawthorne, causing him to laugh and not even attempt to hide it, for the time being I was alive and moderately healthy and that was more desirable than the alternative.

My previously flawless hands now held blisters the size of teaspoons and every muscle in my body ached as if I had never moved before in my life. Surprisingly enough, the stab wound was the thing that hurt the least among my aches and pains from the first day; whatever it was that the doctor gave me it worked miracles.

It was now the second day and I would barely move, shuffling from station to station, and listening to the instructors as they give tips on what to eat, how to start a fire, and camouflaging yourself in a bed of pine needles and dead leaves. I had yet to touch the weapons and I really had no desire too. In the last six months I had enough first hand experience with what weapons could do to people; I had seen it over and over, with my grandfather, my parents, and even myself. Every time I heard the _thwack _of a spear hitting the target, I jumped.

It was too soon. I would get there eventually.

I was working on my climbing and strength building skills that second morning. Seeing as Gale said I had a "boney ass" and thought that I was about as useless as a pair of Nola Vasco swede pumps, I figured that it would be a good idea to try and gain some sort of muscle mass that would help me handle and protect myself. But if I thought that this was going to come easily I was sadly mistaken.

In the Capital, body fat was unacceptable; well, unless you were an old person, but you were pretty much obsolete for the most part by then so it didn't matter anyway. The thinner a person was the better. I was five feet, three inches tall and weighed about one hundred pounds. In the Capital's eyes, I had the perfect body, slim and small, but when it came to the Games I was puny and probably ridiculous looking.

I looked around at my competition to see that I am definitely far behind everyone else in the muscle category, especially the boys that were my age. There was Micah, a tall muscular guy that I had some classes with last year, who was easily picking up the steel tritons and lodging them into the targets. Though his aim was off, the force behind his throw was good. Then there was Vin, a seventeen year old boy with light hair and eyes, who was taking the sword and swinging it at the dummy with such force that he could slice the thing's head off.

Yes, the Capital looked down to body fat but praised the men with the sporty bodies and muscular physiques. Why do you think they loved Finnick Odair so much?

I pried my eyes away from the two boys and concentrated on the task ahead of me: the monkey bars. My eyes flinted to Gale, standing five feet away from me with an uninterested look on his face, before I took a deep breath and jumped to the first bar. Even then my flimsy arms began to shake. I removed my right hand, reaching for next ring but couldn't do it. The next instant my hands gave way and I fell to my knees on the padded mat under me.

Frustration rushes through my veins and I smacked the mat with both hands, letting an unladylike grunt rumble up from my chest. I was never going be able to do this and that meant I was only going to die faster.

A chuckle sounded from over my shoulder; I didn't have to even look to know who it was that found this all oh so humorous. I stood up and turned to see Gale standing there with one hand covering his mouth as he tried to hide a smile that, under normal circumstances, I would have found charming. My eyes narrowed to slits but I didn't say anything.

The two of us hadn't talked since I made that comment about Katniss not caring about him yesterday and I was content with that. I didn't need to talk to someone who just wanted to insult me. So he could have his fun, laughing and all that, as long as he kept his mouth shut.

"It is time to break for lunch." The elderly man from yesterday called to us tributes over the intercom. "Please make your way to the mess hall for your half an hour break."

The younger kids almost run to the double doors that lead to the dinning room, wanting to have the first choice of soggy sandwiches and bruised fruit. The older kids followed with Gale and I being one of the last ones to go in. We stand in line, waiting to get to the food, when Gale spots one of the guards in the far corner of the room. The guard smiles and waves to him, as if they are old friends, and Gale smiles and waves back.

"I'll be back in a minute. Try not to die while I'm gone." He tells me, surprisingly enough, before taking off. I watch him as he greets the other guard with a big hug, smiling and laughing. It was strange to see him without the usual scowl on his face and it made me smile. Once I realized what I was doing, I quickly wiped it off my face and grabbed a tray from the table next to me as something to concentrate on besides my bodyguard.

"That's Gale Hawthorne, right? Katniss Everdeen's cousin?"

I spun to see a vaguely familiar sixteen-year-old girl with short blonde hair and insanely bright blue eyes that had to be enhanced with dyes and surgery before the war. She wore a slight grin as she nods her head in the direction of Gale.

"Um, yeah, it is. Why?" I asked her as I picked up what I thought was a turkey sandwich. I smelt it, my nose wrinkled up at the stench, and I put it back down before grabbing an apple and a banana.

She shrugged as she grabbed my discarded sandwich and put it on her tray. "No reason, I just thought he would have high tailed it out of here by now after what happened."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I took a sidelong glance at Gale, still talking to the other guard. "What are you talking about?" I asked her, wondering where this girl is getting her inside information.

It was her turn to look at me like she was confused as we moved down to get glasses filled with water. "What, you don't know? Remember that bomb that went off in front of your grandfather's house?"

How could I forget? It had killed dozens of children plus many other citizens of the Capital along with some rebels. That explosion was the thing that had stopped the war, but at a horrible price. I took a deep breath before nodding to the girl.

"Well, it turns out that it was Gale Hawthorne who designed that bomb." She stage whispered before walking over to a table and beckoning me over to her; but, I was frozen where I stood. Gale designed a bomb? He couldn't have done that, wanted to kill all those people. Sure, he could be an ass hole but he wouldn't do that, would he? I went over to the girl and sat down across from her, my eyes never leaving my bodyguard who was still smiling and talking.

"He-he couldn't have." I told her, shaking my head and sitting back in my chair. I took the apple off the tray and began to twist the stem as I still studied Gale…no, he couldn't have.

"Oh, yes he did." She leaned in, excited to share her news with me. "But he didn't know they were going to use it on the kids. That President Coin stole it and used it to get the sympathy vote…it was unlike anything anyone had ever seen and so, obviously, everyone would assume it was Capital intelligence, right? Well, no such luck. It leaked out that it was District Thirteen and that is why Katniss Everdeen shot Coin instead of your grandfather…because it was Coin that released the bomb that killed her sister." The girl leaned back now too and smiled. Oh, I bet it felt so good for her to gossip again; there wasn't enough of it since the war and it was what we Capital citizens did best. "Pretty crazy stuff, right?"

I nodded before finally looking back at her. "And how do you know all this?"

"I slept with one of the soldiers who were there that day. He liked pillow talk." She said, grinning slightly, like this was all just a game.

Her smile grew a little wider as she talked because, in the Capital, gossip and secrets were worth more than any amount of money. In those gossip stories and secrets you held the key to someone's past that determined their future; it was a power control issue and now that we were living in a world where power and control where so scarce for us, this last piece of information was all she had left.

"My name is Cecily, by the way. Cecily Van Calvin…my father worked for your grandfather…he was his speech writer."

"Oh, right." I said, not really paying attention to Cecily anymore, but paying attention to my bodyguard, talking and relaxing with minimal effort with that friend of his…but there was still effort on his part. Now that I knew what happened I could see it written all over his face—guilt, anger, sorrow.

Gale Hawthorne was responsible for the deaths of dozens of people, including children, and it had taken his toll on him.

Just then his eyes flinted to mine, my blue eyes clashed with his gray ones, and we stayed locked in each other's eyes for a moment. Yes, Gale's eyes held sorrow and pain.

And for the first time, I actually felt sorry for him; not because of what I had done, just because of the rough life he had had too.

A second later his eyes moved away from me when his fellow guard turned to see what he was looking at. My gaze went back down to my apple and the sympathy I had felt for him disappeared just as quickly as our eye contact had.

I couldn't feel sorry for Gale. He wouldn't want that. I didn't want that.

I finally took a bite of my apple, realizing that Cecily was still talking, this time about the other tributes, and I pretended to listen while my thoughts were preoccupied someplace a million miles away.

* * *

The end of the training day was over and Gale and I were on the elevator making our way to the penthouse. My head was resting against the wall behind me and my eyes drooped closed slightly, the humming of the motor made me feel even drowsier than I already was.

"Rough day of being mediocre, princess?" Gale asked me.

My eyes opened and I stood up straight. "What was mediocre about my performance today?"

Gale shrugged, crossing his arms across his chest a moment later. "Nothing, if you don't count the fact that you didn't once pick up a weapon." He raised an eyebrow at me. "You realize that you will have to kill someone at some point right? You'll have no chance of winning if you don't."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "I didn't realize I stood a chance of winning in the first place."

"You don't. It'll just be more entertaining if you actually pretended like you had a backbone and are willing to use it." His comment stung, leaving a hole in my chest like his words always did.

The elevator dinged and Gale exited.

I should have let him go to bed, left him alone and hating me. But now that I knew what I knew, I couldn't let it go. My mouth flew open of its own accord and words began to spew out.

"Damn it, Gale! That's enough!"

The man stopped loosening his tie and turned to look at me with confused eyes. He crossed his arms across his chest and waited, silently teasing that he couldn't wait to hear what I had to say. I stomped out of the elevator and went to stand in front of him, not even caring that he loomed over me; Gale wasn't scary anymore.

"All you do is try to put me down, make me feel awful about myself. You want me to feel like the scum of the earth and, guess what, you have succeeded on that account." I paused long enough to push him in the chest; he didn't stumble back but looked surprised. "But no more. I'm done being your punching bag to take all of your problems out on because we both know that your real issue isn't with me but with yourself." I took a deep breath to calm myself down slightly.

"And what are my issues with myself, princess?" He whispered the words, trying to control his anger.

I bit my bottom lip and tried to think of how much I should let him know I know. It is only then that I realized that I didn't want to talk about the bomb with Gale; it would only bring up bad memories for both of us. Instead, I just walked past him and went into the kitchen where I grabbed an apple from a bowl on the counter. I would have considered waiting for dinner but when you think about the fact that I didn't know how to cook and Gale sure as hell wasn't cooking for me anymore it was safer if I stuck with raw food.

"We both know what I am talking about, Gale." I said, rubbing my apple against my shirt and examining it from bruises so I didn't have to look at him. "There really is no need for me to say it out loud."

I heard Gale take a rough exile through his nose and looked up just in time to see him rip his black necktie from his collar and throw it across the room. He placed his hands on his hips and turned away from me so he was instead looking out the window, down at the city he hated so much.

Gale was quiet for a long time and I was considering retreating to my room and locking my door before he emerged from this funk and started yelling at me again when he finally sighed. The man rested both of his hands against the windowpane and hung his head low as if he could not take the weight of the situation anymore.

"That bomb was mine, the one that went off at the president's mansion." He stated, even though we already both knew that. I set my apple down on the counter and crossed my arms over my chest defensively as I waited for him to lash out. Gale didn't though. He just kept going on with his story. "They said they wanted me to help with the special weaponry when we were in District Thirteen and I did it, no questions asked."

Gale finally turned to look at me with sad gray eyes. "My father was killed in a mining accident…did you know that? It happened when I was fourteen." My bodyguard took a step closer to me. "I blamed the Capital for his death and rightly should. If it wasn't for you bastards he wouldn't have been a minor at all and the entire situation wouldn't have happened…I hated all of you so much it was unbearable." He paused to rub his hands down his face. "So when President Coin asked me to build a bomb that would destroy your lives like you destroyed mine I was happy to do it…I just…I just never thought they would use it like that."

His gray eyes were filled with tears now and he had to turn away from me so I wouldn't see him cry. I'm not sure why I did it but I moved away from my spot at the counter and made my way closer to him. I'm not sure if I meant to comfort him or just reassure him that he couldn't breakdown because he wasn't alone but I went to stand right behind him just the same. "You-you couldn't have known." I said.

Shaking his head, Gale turned back to me with fury etched into his face along with the sorrow. "I should have known, Serena! It was my responsibility!" He cursed under his breath as he went over to the end table and overturned it, needing to take his anger out on something. "I knew something was off…Coin was acting very sneaky and vague about the use of the bomb…and then she personally asked for the plans before I left with the Star Squad."

"She manipulated you, Gale. She manipulated everyone-"

"I made the bomb, Serena!" He screamed. "Don't you understand that? I killed those kids! I killed Katniss's sister!" Gale stopped, running his hands through his hair and taking a shaking breath. "I killed Prim and then lied about it to Katniss…said I wasn't sure the design was mine…"

My bodyguard pinched the bridge of his nose before slumping against the couch, next to the end table he just threw across the room. He rested his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands as the memories of that day played over in his mind. I moved towards him and reached my hand out, about to place it on his shoulder, before thinking better of it and placing it back by my side. Instead, I just watched as he let the pent up emotions from that fateful day flowed through him; he tried to hide a lot of things from himself, like I had, and now that it was out in the open there was no way to avoid them. It was time to deal with the mistakes we have all made.

"Hating yourself and hating me won't bring her back, Gale. It won't change anything." I said the words in the gentlest voice I could.

He considered this for a moment, staying still and silent at my feet, before finally deciding to look up at me. "You think I hate you because of what I did?"

It was my turn to run my hands through my auburn ponytail, nervousness and fright taking over me as I looked at him. "I think you hate yourself and you are taking it out on me."

The man blinked a few times, tilting his hand to me, before standing up and looming a foot over my head. "I don't hate _you_ because of _me_, princess." He hissed. "I hate _you_ because of who _you_ are—the very definition of a Capital citizen. You, Serena Snow, are a conceited, materialistic bitch that doesn't give a damn about anyone or anything."

That took me aback and I couldn't help but let out a slight, humorless chuckle. I shook my head. "You don't know me, Gale! How can you so easily judge me when you never took the time to get to know me?"

Gale rolled his eyes and walked past me. "You are all the same. You'd have to be to let the Districts live like they did and hold the Hunger Games every year."

"We didn't know any better! Don't you get that!" I screamed as loud as I have ever screamed in my life and Gale paused. "It's how I was raised, it's how we all were raised and I can't change the way I was brought up but I have tried to change the person that I am becoming." Hot tears of anger began running down my face as I shoke my head in his direction. "How dare you act like this, Gale? You have killed dozens of people and I am still here, willing to make peace, but you can't even look at me because of something that _think_ I have taken part in. I guess that's how it is with the people from the Districts though, isn't it? You will always blindly hate everyone in the Capital because you don't understand us. And then we'll always think the Districts to be barbaric because of the way you live. But we'll always hate each other because we don't know any better…no one has taught us any differently…and it could have been different, you know. If the districts hadn't gone through with the Capital Hunger Games, I think there would have been peace eventually but not anymore. There will always be someone strong to rule over the weak." I threw my hands up in frustration and defeat after my long rant. "You can hate me for everything you think I am, everyone can, I can take it. But it's not going to change anything."

I walked past Gale then, heading down the long hallway and left him stunned where he stood. I was just about to go into my room when I stopped and looked back at him. "I'm sorry about what happened to Prim and your father, I really am, but you have to understand that the Districts took my parents away from me, too…they were executed right in front of my eyes right before I was taken into custody and beaten senseless in preparation for being thrown into a holding cell for six months." I paused, pounding my fist against the doorframe to keep my tears at bay a moment longer. "You're not alone in hating something that is beyond your control, Gale, just remember that."

I ran into my room and slammed the door, resting my back against it. I felt myself slid down against the cool metal until I was lying on the floor, curled in a ball and crying. Letting all of those words out let the demons from my past out and I had tried so hard to suppress them. Those six months after my parents died had been a nightmare, literally. It wasn't so much being locked up that was the issue but the constant state of not knowing: not knowing what was going to happen next, not knowing who would come through the door, not knowing if I would ever be free again, not knowing if I was going to live or die. The uncertainty was unbearable.

And now I was back to living in a world full of the unknown, a world that was so different and scary from the sheltered, privileged world I grew up in. Truth was, I wanted that world back. I wanted my home, my friends, my things, and especially my parents back.

I wanted my flighty mother to tell me that the tearstains on my cheeks and puffy eyes would never attract a man and I wanted my father to rush through into my room to kiss my forehead to say goodbye on his way out to work with my grandfather.

I wanted normal. I wanted my life.

But it wasn't coming back. Ever.

Instead I had Gale Hawthorne, the man who loathed me more than any human should be able to. To be hated by strangers would be easy and could be forgiven, but to be hated by the person who was supposed to be my ally in this? That stung; but, I am getting used to the feeling of a stinging heart.

That's my normal now. That is my life.

Counting to five, I inhaled deeply, held it, and then released it. I was beginning to gain control over myself again and I stood up to go into the bathroom. I took a look at myself in the mirror and began to wipe the stray tears from my face. Once I was satisfied, I nodded to remind myself that I could handle this before beginning my nighttime ritual that would ready me for yet another dose of my new 'normal' tomorrow morning.

* * *

In the morning I woke, showered, dressed, and went into the kitchen where I attempted to make eggs twice. The first time I tried I burnt them, the second time I tried it seemed like I couldn't get them to cook all the way. I settled for cutting up a pear and spreading jam on a roll. I poured myself some coffee and sat down at the table, curling my entire body up on the chair.

Sleep and I really hadn't really been on the same page last night; I tossed and turned for hours on end, thinking about the past. I drank my coffee greedily, not able to get the caffeine into my system fast enough, before getting another cup. I waited for Gale to show up and mumble something along the lines of 'good morning, princess, ready to have another awful day? how could you not when you are who you are?' but he never came. I started to fidget when it was five minutes before we had to go down and wondered if I should go in a check on in his room.

He wouldn't like that but the clock kept ticking and now there were three minutes left. I stood up and put my dishes in the sink before slowly making my way down the hallway in hopes that he would pop out of his room before I made it there. My feet stopped in front of his door and I was about to knock when it flew open, causing me to jump back. Gale was tucking his shirt into his pants, as always never fully ready to go, when he realized that I was standing there.

He opened his mouth, probably about to snap at me, before closing it just as quickly. The man nodded, mumbled a 'morning', and whizzed past me and into the kitchen to grab a coffee to take with us to the training center.

I leaned against the wall as I watched him scurry about, grabbing his gun and fixing his tie and jacket. Gale took a deep breath before looking back up at me and pointing to the elevator. "Shall we?"

I nodded my head, saying nothing, and went over. The two of us silently rode the elevator down and I went about my business in the training center as normal with Gale trailing me, sipping his coffee and looking just as exhausted as I felt.

I took a deep breath before deciding what I should work on this morning. I realized that I still wasn't ready for weapons so I decided to join the smaller kids on the strengthening equipment: rope climbing exercises, monkey bars, and obstacle courses.

The line for the monkey bars was long, the one for the obstacle course was even longer, and so I decided to start at the robe climbing station. This didn't just challenge my strength, though; it was very tipsy and tested my balance, as well. I'm not exactly sure what this would help when I was in the arena, but it had to be good for something, right? They wouldn't include it with the stations if it weren't useful.

Tyus Moore, the fourteen-year-old boy who was called after me at the reaping was ahead of me in line and he was wiggling his fingers, cracking the bones in them. Tyus was taller than me by several inches and had an athletic build with lean muscles. I didn't know him before the reaping so I wasn't sure what kind of Capital family he came from but from what I noticed he didn't socialize with the other tributes much, just like me, which is odd because we all grew up together for the most part; he should know someone here.

Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, the black haired boy moved in a small circle as if needing to do something, anything to keep himself occupied. Tyus caught my eye and nodded.

"How's it going, Serena?" He asked, sounding, surprisingly, sincere.

"It could be better. How about you, Tyus?" I asked him in return.

The boy shrugged and gave me a half grin. "I'm not dead or anything yet so it's not so bad."

I chuckled a little and nodded. "It's going to be a good day then, right?"

He nodded in response before turning back, seeing that it was his turn on the rope. "I'd better go. See you."

Tyus cracked his fingers one more time, followed by his neck, before mounting the rope and climbing it with ease, making it look like it was no more difficult than walking. My jaw dropped slightly and I shook my head in amazement; I really was behind the pack.

It felt like only seconds later that Tyus was done and moving on to weapons, which, I'm sure, he was good with too. My eyes left the boy and I took a deep breath as I stared down the rope for a moment. Another deep breath, and I grabbed onto it and started climbing.

I must say that I was doing better than the first two days of training, but it still wasn't that great of the job. I made it about a third of the way up the rope before it flipped and I fell onto my back. All of the air rushed from my lungs and clenched my teeth in pain and frustration.

I flipped onto my stomach and went onto my hands and knees as I tried to catch my breath.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Gale. He didn't look like he was about to bust out into laughter like before though; something seemed different today. The man pursed his lips and looked around him before sighing and coming over to me. He knelt down next to me, his coffee cup dangling in one hand, but I couldn't look at him. I felt too ridiculous. Gale ran his free hand over his mouth before speaking. "You are relying too much on your upper body strength which, let's be honest, isn't much of anything." I twisted my neck to look at him with a raised eyebrows; Gale gave me a once over before speaking again. "You're a runner, right? I can tell."

I nodded, still confused, as to where he was going with this.

The man nodded once he got my conformation. "So use your legs more…they have more muscle and will help support and stabilize your upper body. If you do that you should be more steady."

I pushed myself off my hands as I studied him still, wondering why he was giving me tips. I wouldn't ask him the question floating around in my mind though. "Thanks." I said instead.

He nodded before looking over the training center at the other tributes. "And that kid you were talking to earlier?"

"Tyus." I informed him.

"Tyus. He would be a good ally in the arena. You should at least try to make one so someone has your back and he seems to have taken at least some kind of interest in you." Gale gave his pointers so off handedly that you would have thought he was still insulting me by his tone.

"Okay." I said, agreeing with him. An ally in the arena _would _be nice, I'd admit.

Gale nodded again, his eyes going over to the weapons area. "And you really have to pick up a sword, a bow, something soon, or else these fancy pants kids are going to think they can eat you alive. Chances are, you will suck at it but if you don't practice with them you won't stand a chance once you are in there, got it?"

I tilted my head at him, completely flabbergasted at was happening here. Gale Hawthorne was giving me pointers and tips for training and the arena—why? The only thing I could think of was that something I said last night affected him, changed him and his outlook the entire situation we were in and on me. He didn't look as sad or angry, more calm and collected instead. This was the Gale I remembered from the interviews from the seventy-fourth Hunger Games, before the war, before Peeta and Katniss professed their love for each other, before his bomb stole many lives.

I never knew the real Gale, but I thought I might have been getting a glimpse of him at that moment.

"Thanks, I-I'll give it a go, I guess."

Gale nodded, smiling slightly, before standing. He took a deep breath before offering his free hand to me. I looked at it for a moment, rough and calloused, as a sign of peace between us. We would never talk about our conversation that took place last night and I didn't think we needed to; what happened, happened, and we were moving forward to a place where we weren't necessarily friends but weren't necessarily enemies either. When Gale reached out his hand it was like an unspoken truce between us and all I had to do was accept it.

"What do you say, princess? Should we go check out the big scary spears?" He asked the question in his usual mocking tone but it didn't hold any anger this time, just a harmless teasing undertone.

I chuckled lightly and shrugged, placing my small hand inside his and standing as he helped me. "Why not? It's a new day, might as well."

My newly blistered hand slid from his and we walked over to the weapons area, Gale a half step behind me the whole time. I slid my fingers along one of the spears, feeling the smooth metal glide effortlessly as I moved. Gripping it tightly, I picked the weapon up and moved to the line marked off as the spot to throw from. A shaky breath left my lungs as I gripped it the way the weapons master showed us on the first day. My eyes flinted back to Gale for a moment and he gave me a slight nod, telling me to just do it.

I nodded back, still shaking slightly with the knowledge that I held something in my hands that could so easily take a life. My arm stretched back, bringing with it the spear. I stepped forward with my opposite foot and launch my arm and weapon both forward, aiming for the target.

The spear flew through the air.

It missed its mark completely, skidding across the floor for several feet before running into the back wall.

From behind me, I heard Gale snickering at my pathetic attempt, trying hard to contain it. My lips pursed as I spun with my arms tightly crossed against my chest; it is now that he started cracking up completely.

I shook my head.

No matter how many things changed, it seemed that some things will always stay the same.

* * *

**So, I hope you enjoyed it! Please tell me what you think! Thank you so much for reading! **


	4. Because of You

**Hello all! I hope you are enjoying the story so far! Here we go with a new chapter! **

**Thanks for reading!  
**

* * *

_Clink! Clang! _

The spear skidded across the floor as I missed the dummy again during weapons practice in the training room. A thirteen-year-old girl named Gabriella snorted next to me at my attempt and I glared back at her…like she could really do any better.

We have been in the training center for five days now and I still was awful with spears and swords. I was okay with the survival skills such as making fire and climbing a tree along with being able to shoot a bow and arrow and hit a target—well, I didn't hit nowhere useful, maybe in the bicep or somewhere like that—but I still knew I would never make it out in the arena at the rate I was going.

I had to become more offensive. If there's one thing I had learned from the previous Hunger Games and from Finnick Odair himself it was that the people who win are the ones that can hold their own in a fight, not run away from one.

"Hey," I heard Gale call to me from the spot where he usually stood—next to the weapons, observing everyone who comes to take and put one away. He pursed his lips as he left his post to come up to me.

Since our…well, for lack of a better word, rumble several days ago Gale and I hadfallen onto friendly ground. We talked at meals, laughing sometimes even, and we didn't necessarily try to make each other miserable. Sure, we still had our differences and I'm certain we always would but it was something I was much better equipped to live with until I went into the arena.

Gale took the spear I had laying on the ground by my feet and examined it, tossing it up and down in the air a couple of times before shaking his head. "Yeah, these definitely aren't going to do anything for you." He told me. "They weigh way too much…you can't do too much damage if you can't lift the thing and throw it properly."

He handed the spear back to me and I tried to mimic his motion of throwing it in the air and catching it but my wrist gave out and it tumbles to the floor with a loud metallic clang.

"Okay, so what do you suggest instead?" I asked him, looking around at the other weapons.

My bodyguard let out a whoosh of air and clicked his tongue as he checked out my other options for weapons. "Well, a sword will be too heavy too, so would a triton. I would say it's between knives and a bow for you, little princess." Gale went over to the weapons rack and took a small, sharp-looking dagger and brought it over to me. "Give that a shot."

I bit at the inside of my cheek as I took the knife from him and stared at it. My eyes went from the knife to Gale then back again before he realized that I was completely clueless on how to throw a knife. All the other weapons seemed pretty straightforward when it came to using them but when trying to kill someone or defend yourself with something you could find in your chef's kitchen, it just seemed a little harder. I'd seen it on the Games before; I should be able to just copy the motion, right? I kind of felt like a fool and in the Captial being a fool was worse than failure. I couldn't and wouldn't be a failure.

Gale was about to say something, maybe offer to help me, but I turned away from him and flung the knife on instinct towards the dummy. The blade flew through the air at rapid speed and lodged itself in the target's lower left side a second later.

I let out an unbelieving chuckle and jumped a little in delight; for a second my Capital nature got the best of me and I needed to celebrate the victory of not being laughed at for the first time since picking up a weapon. Turning to Gale, I saw that he was looking at me with one eyebrow raised, silently asking if I was seriously happy about my mediocre shot.

"You know what?" I said, taking another knife from the pile and tapping his cheap necktie with it. "Even you can't ruin this for me because that was the best damn thing I have done since I got here."

"Really? That's the best damn thing you've done?" Gale asked with a laugh. "Then your best is just about on the level of a five year old's."

I chuckled. "Oh, come on, give me a little more credit! I'm from the Capital after all, not a District. The only thing I have ever thrown in my life is a tantrum."

Gale flat out laughed then. "I believe that one." He paused. "Fine, then, by Capital standards, that's a best effort of a ten year old."

I glared at my bodyguard but nodded. "I'll take it." I turned away from him one more time and threw the knife, this time it lodged itself in the dummy's shoulder. I just shrugged. "They aren't kill shots yet but it'll slow someone down."

"It's better than nothing, princess." His eyes began to look around the training center then, at my competition that were beginning to pack up at the end of the day. He studied them a moment longer as if he were looking for something among them, before taking the final knife in the pile and chucking it at the dummy without even really concentrating. My eyes went wide when I saw that it hit the target square in the chest before I looked back at him. Gale wore a slight grin and shrugged his shoulders, waiting for me to say something.

It was then my turn to purse my lips. "It's better than nothing." I said, pushing him out of my way with my shoulder as walked past him. "Let's get home. I'm starving."

We went over to the elevator and waited our turn. It took forever since I wasn't allowed in such a confined space with a large amount of people. Personally, I didn't see the point of that considering the other tributes wouldn't gain anything by killing me but I had given up on trying to tell Gale that his ways were a little ridiculous.

The two of us finally got on the elevator and shot up towards the penthouse. Gale leaned against one glass wall of the elevator with his arms crossed across his chest and his head hanging slightly; he looked tired like today had worn him out. I stood in the middle of the elevator and took my hair out of the French braids and shook my long burgundy waves out over my shoulders.

"Do you actually plan on cooking tonight or are you going to stick to a raw fruit?"

I gave my hair a final scrunch and then looked over at Gale with a shrug. "I kept burning everything including my fingers…the price I have to pay for having everything handed to me my entire life, I guess. I think I'll stick to the cold foods, thanks."

The doors opened and we were in our penthouse. I tried to step out first but Gale stopped me, as always insisting he go before me to check things out. He got off the elevator and did a quick look around the living room and dining room area before coming back to get me. The man leaned against the elevator doorway and crossed his arms again. He shrugged, not really looking at me. "I could, you know, teach you some basic cooking stuff if you want."

I raised an eyebrow as stepped off the elevator. "Really? After our first morning together, I thought-"

"Are you really going to bring that up?" He asked, rubbing his neck as we both moved away from the elevator and towards the kitchen.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are we not talking about the past now? I didn't realize it was off limits." I said sarcasticallyas I pulled myself onto the counter and he began to pull things from the fridge. It looked like Gale was sticking with what he knew: eggs and bacon. It was a lot of fat and calories but at this point I guess it beat an apple.

"You know, princess, I prefer not thinking about a past where you and I were both miserable and pissed off." Gale took two pans from the cupboard and put them on the burners next to me.

His words took me back for a second; I couldn't help but wonder what he was talking about when he said that we were only miserable and pissed off in the past. Yes, things were better but I was still going into the Games and Gale was still haunted by what happened with Katniss and her sister, Prim. How were we any different?

"So what exactly are we now?" I asked, voicing the thoughts running around in my mind.

Gale paused slightly before he greased the pans with a slab of butter. I wondered then what my mother would have thought of me eating foods such as this without our handy medicine that made us throw it back up again. I'd bet she'd make me change into athletic clothing and work it off with my personal trainer right away, no exceptions.

I smiled slightly at the thought of the frantic woman but then frowned, realizing that my mother would never do that again, not in this lifetime anyway.

"We?" The man next to me asked, casting a sidelong glance with his gray eyes as he concentrated on the pan and the new sizzling sound that it was making. He cracked four eggs into the pan as he raised an eyebrow in my general direction.

I froze at his comment, forgetting the sad thoughts about my dead mother completely.

Gale was teasing me, I realized, because I had said 'we' like the two of us were a team or something. I had to come up with an explanation very quickly. "Yes, we, as in you and I, the people in this room." I paused, trying my hardest not to sputter for more words. It was never acceptable to loose your cool in Capital society and I still held that little piece of etiquette to be law when in the presence of Gale Hawthorne. The man next to me nodded his head and pursed his lips, looking very unconvinced by my explanation. "I didn't mean anything by using that particular pronoun, of course, it is just easier to say than-"

"Serena, I'm just giving you a hard time." Gale told me with a slight chuckle, causing me to narrow my blue-eyed gaze at him and make him chuckle all the more. "Hey, so you do realize that you start talking very intellectually when you're nervous, right? Because it was quite obvious just then."

I fake laugh at him—it was the laugh I reserved for my grandfather's parties and colleagues-before looking over his shoulder at the pan behind him. "Oh, really? I didn't notice. But, hey, you do realize that when you start talking that you forget that you are supposed to be teaching me to cook, right? Because you aren't setting a very good example." He tilted his head to me, confused, and I jerk my chin at the burner. "Your eggs are burning."

Gale's eyes go wide and he spins in an instant to see that our eggs have turned into nothing more than a hard, brown crust at the bottom of the frying pan. The man cursed, rather loudly and creatively actually, and turned off the burner before taking the pan over to the sink and turning on the faucet.

Once the brown goo started to come off the pan, he shut the water off and turned back around to me, seeing that I was having a very hard time holding back a smirk because we both knew that I won our little tease fight.

This round definitely belonged to me.

Gale rolled his eyes and shook his head at the charming look I'm sure was playing across my face. I smirked all the more at that.

"So, um, you burn eggs when you're nervous, Gale? Because it was quite obvious back there." I burst into a fit of laughter as I copied his smart-ass remark.

He nodded his head several times, like he knew that comment was coming. "You know what else is quite obvious, princess?" He asked, taking a step towards me. "The fact that you are _really _going to get it now."

The next second, he lunged at me, seemingly 'on the attack'.

Instinctively, I jumped off the counter and ran around to the other side of the dining room table so it now stood between him and me. When he realized I escaped him so easily, he raised an eyebrow. "Not too bad, princess. You clearly are a runner."

"No, you are just slower than you think." I joked, grinning and egging him on.

He shook his head. "Yeah, I don't think that's it." Just then, he took off around the table, coming at me. I made my way into the living room and tried to maneuver my way around the furniture but it was more difficult that I initially thought it would be.

Sure enough, I slammed my shin against the sharp edge of the coffee table and I stumbled slightly. That was enough time for Gale to catch up with me, though. His arm wrapped around my waist and I felt my feet leave the ground as he picked me up and pretended to toss me around like a rag doll.

I laughed, trying to fight my way out of his grip but it was no use; he was just too strong but I would never admit that to him, of course. Seconds later, he dropped me and released his grip.

I turned around to see that he was tilting his head to me once again, as always he was confused by my actions. "What is it?" I asked as I tried to catch my breath from the laughter.

"That. Was. Absolutely. Pathetic." He was completely bewildered.

"What was?" I had no idea what he was talking about.

Gale motioned for me to come over to him and slowly I did, wondering what in the world he was talking about. Had he really gone back to insulting me? I thought we were past that…well, when we were serious about it, at least.

I was about three feet from my bodyguard when he grabbed my wrist and spun me into him so that my back was in his chest and both of my arms were crossed and held over my own. I gasped when he snatched me and instantly tried to wretch myself away but couldn't do it. I was terrified of Gale in that moment and wanted nothing more than to get away from him.

The next thing I knew, I felt hot breath on my ear and I paused my attack, just listening to the sounds of his breathing. "You won't get away, princess. That's the point. If someone grabs you, you're done for." He paused to take a breath and readjust his grip on my wrists. "What I want you to do is ball up your fists," I did as instructed and I felt him nod behind me. "Yup, just like that. Now, thrust your hips back and your arms forward, forcing my arms off of you." I digested what he is saying and then tried it, only to fail.

We both chuckled, knowing full well that I was notoriously bad at first attempts.

"Try again." Gale whispered.

I balled my fists up again, tensing my arms with the force of it, and with all my might I thrust my arms downward at the same time I jerked my body back. I flew forward, falling to the ground, and Gale stumbled back a foot. I landed on my hands and knees, feeling the impact of it but not caring much. Spinning around so I am sitting on the floor looking up at Gale, I smiled.

The man smiled back as he bent down to look me in the eye. He took a deep breath and nodded. "That wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be." Gale chuckled and I did the same.

He sat down in front of me and continued to smile; I studied him. Gale's handsome face looked less strained and stressed than it had been since he was assigned to my body guarding case. His eyes were bright and shiny, like they liked what they saw. I think I might have liked what I saw too….

It was then that a sudden and strange, sickly feeling came over me. Gale Hawthorne and I were sitting together, laughing and smiling, messing around and goofing off, like we were friends or something. That was impossible. We weren't enemies anymore, sure, but I was still Capital scum and he was a District hero.

We weren't friends or anything like it and I knew it.

But I still felt something…I'm not sure exactly what it was though, just something.

"What is it?" I heard Gale's voice and it shook me from my thoughts.

My eyes shot to his—they looked confused and questioning-and then left quickly again. "I have to go." I was up in a flash and walking down the hallway towards my room.

"Wait, what? What about dinner?" He asked, chasing after me a ways.

I sighed, stopping, and backtracking to the kitchen where I grabbed an apple and waved it so he could see that I was taken care of. "Good night."

"Serena!" He yelled at my retreating back as I raced down the hallway and into my room, shutting the door behind me and feeling myself return to normal. I stood leaning against the door for a moment trying to work through what just happened but I really couldn't. It was something too strange for me to even process in my mind.

All I knew is that whatever happened, whatever that little emotional crisis was, couldn't happen again. It would leave me too vulnerable in the Games and I couldn't afford to be anymore vulnerable than I already was. So, I'd keep my distance from Gale and keep things professional between the two of us. It should really be no problem. I had encounters with my grandfather's bodyguards all the time before the war and none of them ever made me feel like I was going crazy.

_But none of them were Gale Hawthorne. _

I told my inner voice to be quiet and banged my head once against the door for good measure. No, they weren't Gale Hawthorne. None of them made furious like Gale Hawthorne. None of them made me feel like I was completely incompetent like Gale Hawthorne. None of them were teasing, prideful, angry, or barely tolerable like Gale Hawthorne.

Actually, I should hate him, when I thought about it.

I let out a laugh as I realized how stupid I had been earlier when I thought I felt something for him. It was absolutely ridiculous to mistake any feelings for Gale as anything other than bearable.

I took a bite of my apple before setting it down and going to the bathroom to start my nightly bedtime ritual with a feeling of lightness on my chest, almost like a weight was lifted from it. But then I see myself in the mirror, wearing the standard training uniform for the tributes and the weight was back, crushing my lungs.

I had bigger, worse things to worry about than Gale Hawthorne and I shouldn't let myself worry about him a moment longer while the 76th Annual Hunger Games loomed so closely over my head.

* * *

Tyus and I were both at the targets, working on weapons training together the next morning. If I thought the fourteen year old boy was good at the survival skills when I saw him a few days I ago, he blew me away with his skills with a bow and arrow; he would hit the bull's eye seven times out of ten.

"Where did you learn to do that?" I asked, my eyes wide as I stared at his target. I shook my head when my gaze returned to my target to see that I only had four of ten knives sticking out of the dummy's gut.

The boy smiled smugly, loving the feeling of one-upping someone like anyone in the Capital would. "My grandfather enjoyed archery as a recreational activity. He took me with him when I was small." His eyes went to my target then and his face fell slightly. "You don't seem to be doing so bad…"

I smiled, thankful that he didn't just insult my skill like the others would. "Yeah, I could be doing a lot better."

"Or a lot worse." He explains, nodding his head in the direction behind me. I turned around to see a group of three girls and a boy with swords. They were trying to spare with them but it seemed they had no idea what they were doing and, on top of that, they could barely lift them.

I shrugged. "I don't think a lot of us have a clue what we are doing."

"Why should we?" He asked angrily. Tyus's light eyes shifted around looking at the guards and then Gale before he took a step closer to whisper to me. "We were never supposed to go through with this…this wasn't meant for us. We weren't the ones who rebelled all those years ago. Why would we need to be taught a lesson, you know? I understand the Districts are upset because of the way that they have been treated, and it was bad, but this isn't helping matters." He paused to take another step closer to me. "When the Capital comes back into power next time there will be hell to pay and I'm scared that things are going to be worse than they ever were."

I was taken aback by Tyus's outburst, wondering what exactly he thought was going to happen to cause these events to unfold but then I saw Gale come up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder, roughly pulling the boy away from me. "Keep your distance, kid."

Tyus eyed Gale as if he was wondering if he could take him on in a fight. Tyus was a muscular guy, perhaps only four or five inches shorter than Gale despite his young age but I doubted that he would be able to fight Gale. He suspected the same thing too, I think, because the next thing he does is nod to my bodyguard.

"I was just talking to her, sir, honest. I wouldn't hurt Serena."

Gale nodded sternly then before patting Tyus on the shoulder. "Good man." Those were the only words he offered before he returned to his post ten feet away from us. I met Gale's eyes for a second and he winked, which I knew meant for me to hint to Tyus that I wanted to team up with him in the arena.

I planned on doing this for a while now and I was kind of upset that Gale was trying to boss me around, telling me when to do it. I could hear his voice in my head, saying 'come on, princess, be a big girl and get yourself a big boy to help keep you alive in the Games. You'll be dead without him!'

"I-I'm sorry about him." I told Tyus as I thrusted my thumb over my shoulder to Gale, not even caring that I was being rude by pointing.

The dark haired boy just shrugged. "He's doing his job, right? It's no big deal." He looked at Gale again. "So, that's the great Gale Hawthorne, huh? He seems kind of…well, he just seems kind of awful, doesn't he?"

I couldn't help but smile as I looked past Tyus and set my gaze on Gale. The man set me with a slight grin before turning in a circle, doing what he liked to call a perimeter check, which pretty much consisted of him turning around in a circle and looking at everyone except me for a second.

"He's not so bad." My gaze stayed on Gale for a moment longer until he turned back to me and pointed back to Tyus, telling me yet again that I needed to talk to him. I nodded and turned to the fourteen year old; he was back to facing the dummy with the bow raised in the air. "So, Tyus, I was thinking that we should team up in the arena. You know, have an alliance, that is, if you want to. We seem to get along well enough and it can't hurt to have someone watch your back for a while to get through the worst of the death matches."

The boy shot his arrow, watched as it lodged itself in the ring right outside of the target's heart area, and then turned to me with a skeptical look on his face. "You want to form an alliance with me? Why would you want to do that?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I want to do that?"

Tyus took a deep breath before setting the bow down and crossing his arms over his broad chest. "You're kidding me, right? You are Serena Snow and I am just some low class Capital kid who lived in an apartment in the South Village."

I shifted my weight from one foot to another uncomfortably, wondering what he was talking about and why he was bringing this up. "I'm sorry, I-I don't know what that has to do with this."

Tyus shook his head. "Look, I don't need any favors, Serena, if that's what you think. I've been doing just fine on my own. If you are trying to help the charity case get sponsors or something-"

"That's not it, Tyus." I told him. "I don't think of you like that at all and I'm sorry if it came off in that way. There is no such thing as rank anymore between us in the Capital. We are equals; well, actually, I think you probably outrank me now according to the rebels system. But I really think we could help each other out in the arena...I think we could be able to trust one another." I shrugged. "Like I said, it's your call though."

The boy rapped his fingers on his biceps for a second, thinking over my offer and probably just thinking over me as a person. I thought we had connected, even became kind of friendly, during training but he still felt like he was below me and that couldn't be if we were going to work together because if he did feel that way then it would be like he were working _for _me; we couldn't be a team that way.

Finally, Tyus shook his head. "I can't, I'm sorry. You seem nice but…you are still Serena Snow and that's not something I can get over." His eyes went over to Gale. "I can't be him in the arena for you."

I bit the inside of my cheek in frustration and nodded slightly. "I understand."

Tyus smiled. "You take care of yourself, Serena." With those words he walked away from me, heading over to the weight station where he would once again be alone.

I took a deep breath and placed my head in my hands; I allowed myself three seconds to calm down after loosing my only chance at an ally before I refocused. My hands went down and my eyes shot open to see Gale in front of me.

"Tough break." He told me. "I was sure he would have taken the bait."

"Tyus is a good guy." I explained. "He just didn't want to be the hired help and I get that. No one wants to be in an alliance with a stuck up princess."

"We do."

My forehead wrinkled as I turned around to see two of the twelve year olds standing there, looking slightly intimidated by the sight of Gale and I. I gave my bodyguard a side-glance—he simply gave shrugged, just as baffled as I was—before taking a step towards the children. One of them, the boy, I recognized very well now as Lawson. He was skinny and tall for his age with dark hair and gray eyes; actually, now that I studied him, his looks reminded me of Gale. The little girl cowered behind him slightly like she didn't want to be in my or Gale's direct eyesight. Her pale blonde hair was pulled back in to two pigtails, making her look younger than she actually was and making me feel sick that she was even in these Games.

Neither of them should have to fight to the death.

None of us should have to.

"You want to team up with me?" I asked slowly, making sure I heard this correctly.

Lawson nodded. "Neva and I couldn't help but overhear you talking to that other boy and we wanted to join you too…if that's okay."

My eyes went from Lawson to the girl, whose name I now knew to be Neva, then back again. I thought about it for a moment, wondering if I could see myself teaming up with these two, before nodding. "Yes, of course." I smiled. "It's a deal."

The two smiled at each other and then at me before laughing. I felt Gale nudge me hard in the ribs but I ignored him as Lawson began to talk again. "Great! This is really great, Serena!" Just then I heard a guard call us all to lunch. Lawson and Neva looked over my shoulder as the other tributes began to pile towards the double doors that led to the cafeteria.

"Do-do you want to eat lunch with us, Serena?" Neva asked quietly, talking for the first time. Her light blue eyes went from me to my bodyguard. "Mr. Hawthorne is welcome to join us, too, of course."

I chuckled slightly at her calling Gale 'Mr. Hawthorne' but nodded all the same. "That would be nice, thank you."

The two kids nodded and started to walk away. I began to follow them when I felt Gale's hand go around my arm and pull me back. "We'll be right there, you two."

Lawson and Neva nodded and waved, promising to save us seats.

Once they were out of earshot I wretched my arm away from Gale. "What is the matter with you?"

The man seemed taken aback by question. "I should be the one asking you that considering the fact that you just signed on to babysit two kids that will be dead within minutes." He shook his head at me. "Honestly, Serena, can you really tell me that you think they are going to make good allies. They are kids!"

"Yeah, and if I don't look after them then who will?" I shot back. Biting on my lower lip, I calmed down enough to speak again. "I realize that those kids don't stand a chance, all right? They can't fight. They can't run. They can't hide. They are sitting ducks. I get it."

Gale ran a hand over his mouth. "Then you realize that makes you just as vulnerable."

I nodded. "I know that but I can't just abandon them. If I'm going to die in the games then the least I can do is die trying to defend some little kids." I paused, thinking over my next words carefully. "And who knows, they might save my back too. After all, where would Katniss have been without little Rue, right?"

At the mention of his former love, Gale's eyes fled mine, fixating on a spot over my head instead. He pursed his lips for a moment, angry at me and trying to control it, before nodding. "Yeah, right."

It was my turn to nod. "Okay, grumpy. Let's get some lunch before all the good moldy sandwiches are gone."

I turned and made my way into the cafeteria. Gale trailed behind me, sulking like I had made a bad deal for him instead of me.

Truth be told, I was happy with my choice of allies. These kids could be trusted, I knew that; I could see it in their eyes. Besides, it was good that they were with me instead of against me because if it came down to it I don't think I would be able to kill a child as young as them, even if they were trying to do the same to me. It just wouldn't sit right with me and I couldn't live with it.

I grabbed my regulation cup of water, apple, and sandwich before finding the table in the center of the room where Lawson and Neva sat. The two had their chairs huddled together on one side and I sat down opposite them. They smiled over at me like I was a friend they had been waiting for; I guess I kind of was now.

I felt Gale lean down and put a hand on my shoulder. He leaned in close to whisper in my ear. "I'm going to go talk to the Game Maker really quickly about tomorrow and make sure we are all clear for me to go in the room with you during your scoring. You'll be all right while I'm gone? The room is covered with guards and there aren't any weapons or anything that anyone could use in here so you're safe."

I nodded and he did the same before smiling over at the two young kids before taking his leave, making our group of four into three.

I looked over at Lawson and Neva and shrugged. "He does that a lot…bodyguards." I chuckled before taking a sip of my water.

"What was he saying? About the scoring?" Neva asked through a greedy bite of sandwich.

"Oh, we go in tomorrow to get our skill scores, just like the old Games where the tributes were rewarded a number between one and twelve…didn't anyone tell you?"

The two looked and each other and shook their hands. "No one tells us anything." Lawson admitted. "Someone comes to collect us in the mornings and tuck us in at night. Besides that we don't hear any news besides what's said down here."

"Oh," I said, realizing that I was much more in the loop that I realized. I assumed everyone knew what I knew about upcoming events but now that I thought about it all of my information came from Gale, not any other official source. "Well, it's nothing to worry about. Just go in there and show them what you've got…speaking of which, what can you two do? I've got to admit I've been preoccupied and haven't noticed."

Lawson and Neva exchanged another glance like they need each other's approval before speaking. Neva nodded to Lawson, silently telling him to go first. "Well, I'm pretty good with the camouflaging techniques, I guess."

"He's just like Peeta." Neva cut in. "I swear I couldn't even find the bag you painted the other day."

Lawson shrugged off her compliment, which made me tilt my head in amazement. Never in my life had I seen a person of the Capital take a compliment so lightly; most of the time we fished for them. In fact, neither of the kids seemed to be tainted by the Capital's influence and I couldn't help but wonder if that was due to their young age when the rebellion started. Did it start early enough to spare them the egos and pride? I thought it did.

It was one positive to come from the war, I supposed.

"I've been experimenting with the spears and I actually think I might be getting the hang of it." Neva admits. "I'm not going to kill anyone with those skills but maybe I could wound them or…"

She continued to speak but her words didn't register to me. From the corner of my eye I could see a guard walking towards the center of the room, to our table. I couldn't be certain that he was coming for us, obviously, but I had been around Gale long enough to know when to suspect that something was wrong.

I didn't turn to the guard, just kept looking at him with my peripheral vision. He continued to walk until he was maybe ten feet from our table and stopped to talk to several kids seated close by. This is when I took a deep breath of relief.

I was being paranoid. The guard wasn't going to-

Everything that happened next was in a flash.

The guard had his hand on his hip, reaching for his gun and pulling it free from its holster. Gale was running at me from I'm not exactly sure where and tackling me to the ground. A shot rang out, loud and clear, causing the tributes to scream and run, turning over chairs and tables alike. The guard was being tackled by the other guards and then it was over.

When I fell I felt my head knock back against the cold, hard floor and explode my vision with stars. Everything went black for a moment and when my sight returned I saw Gale hovering over me. He had one hand supporting my neck while the other held his body weight so it wouldn't crush me; the man still laid on top of me like a threat was still to come. I took a few deep breaths as I watched his lips move but didn't hear any words come out.

Blinking a few times, I felt my mind become more clear, followed closely by my hearing. "Serena, are you alright! Come on, say something!"

I shook my head once and blinked again. "Was I shot? I don't want to be shot. I don't want to go back to the hospital. I hated that place."

Gale chuckled. "No, you got lucky this time, princess." He paused to look over his shoulder at the imposter who was now being carted off by the other guards. "He on the other hand won't be."

I tried to sit up to get a look at my attacker but Gale wouldn't let me. "Stay there for a minute, okay? You hit your head pretty hard."

I nodded and laid my head back down. Gale stayed where he was, slightly hovered over me and looking around to make sure everything was secured. While he did that I tried to catch my breath but it seemed to be nearly impossible with the weight of him on top of me despite his best efforts. "Gale, you can get off of me now."

"I-" The man looked back down at me then and shook his head. "Yeah, right. Everything seems okay, I guess." Slowly, he eased off me and winced.

"What is it?" I asked, suddenly worried.

Gale waved off my question. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing." My bodyguard made to take off his black suit jacket and that was when I saw it: all of the blood. I shot up from my laying position, instantly feeling and trying to ignore a headache pounding through my skull.

"Oh, my god. You've been shot!"

He shook his head. "No, it's just a graze. I'll be okay."

I scoffed at him as I reached up onto the table and pulled my cheap paper napkin down. "Gale, you are not okay. You are bleeding and-"

"Serena-" His saying my name cut off my rant and calmed my nerves slightly. I looked up from the napkin I had against his side, trying to keep pressure on the wound, and into his gray eyes. "I'm fine, honestly." I must have made a face that said I wasn't convinced because Gale sighed and rolled his eyes. "After what you have been through what I have, something like this just doesn't register as a big deal, okay? I'll just go get cleaned up and then be as good as new."

The man stood up and I followed closely behind, thinking just how completely crazy he was. Gale was bleeding, almost killed by a bullet that was meant from me, and he didn't seem to care in the slightest. This was absolute madness. "I'm going to go with you."

"Serena, you can't-"

"Like hell I can't." I said, now furious. "Someone tried to kill me….again…and you were shot instead. The least I can do for you is clean out your wound."

The man pursed his lips, looking around the room at the others, before putting his hands on my shoulders to ensure that I was paying attention. "Princess, listen to me, they are not going to let you leave the training area until the end of the day. Now, I'm going to go up to the penthouse and get a change of clothes and I'll be back in ten minutes, okay? I've got a buddy down here who will stay with you until I get back. Don't leave his site and stay away from the weapons, understand? I don't want you over there without me. Just lay low and I'll be back soon and hopefully we'll be able to figure this whole thing out then."

"But, Gale-"

"Would you just shut up and listen to something I tell you to do for once?" He asked. There was no real anger in Gale's voice but I knew he was just trying to get me to stop fighting him.

I took a deep breath and rubbed the back up my throbbing head. "Okay, fine."

Gale nodded. "Thank you. Stay out of trouble while I'm gone, alright." It was an order not a request.

He started walking away, still holding the napkin I gave him over the wound on his side, and made it several feet before I stopped him. "Hey, Gale."

The man paused to look at me over his shoulder; he sighed. "What now, princess?"

I managed a half smile as I gazed over at my bodyguard, my savior. "I owe you a thank you."

Gale grinned back at me. "I didn't do too much." He shrugged. "You know what, save your 'thank you'. I have a feeling these don't come along very often from you and my guess is I'll deserve it more at a better time than this." I scoffed and rolled my eyes at him, ever teasing me. "But your welcome all the same, princess." Gale winked in my direction before walking out of the double doors of the cafeteria and disappearing.

"What did you do to him?"

I spun around fast and saw the guard that Gale was talking to the second day of training, the day I found out about Prim from Cecily, was standing there with a baffled look on his face.

I raised an eyebrow at the man who looked to be about my age—perhaps even younger- with dark hair and gray eyes, like Gale's, and rubbed the lump forming on the back of my head again. "I beg your pardon?"

"I've known Gale Hawthorne my entire life and not once have I seen him act like that."

"Act like what?"

"Like he was happy to get shot." The guard responded. "He wouldn't have complained, that's certain, but he wouldn't have been so pleased with himself if he didn't…"

I felt as my heart dropped into my stomach and I swallowed a hard, dry lump that was stuck in my throat. "If he didn't..?" I wasn't sure why I was getting so worked up about his answer when I had already sworn to myself that I had no feelings for Gale, that I would never have feeling for Gale because it would just make things much more complicated than they needed to be before entering the Games.

The guard wrinkled his forehead as if contemplating telling me what he was thinking or not and then finally waved me off. "If he didn't nothing. It's not important. You'd better get back with the other tributes before they think you are dead...again."

I nodded, knowing that he was right, and we started our walk towards the double doors like Gale had. We were just about to exit when a question popped into my head that had to be answered amidst all the questions that I knew wouldn't be. "How do you know Gale so well?" I asked the guard.

It was now his turn to raise an eyebrow at me. "He didn't tell you?" The guard chuckled. "I'm his brother."

I stopped short of the doors and stared him, completely in awe. Gale had never talked about his family before but I would have assumed, expected, him to tell me that his little brother was not only so close but working with him.

The man before me opened the door and grinned mischievously in a way that must have been a family trait. "The name's Rory Hawthorne and you, Miss Snow, have done a number on that big brother of mine."

I didn't know what to be more shocked about: gaining two allies for the arena, someone trying to shoot me, Gale almost taking a bullet for me, a younger Hawthorne boy appearing out of nowhere, or the fact that he thought I had some kind of effect on Gale.

Let's be honest, it all shocked me.

I would say that nothing else could possibly surprise me on this day but then again, it was only noon.

Oh, help me.

* * *

**So, I realize that Rory is suppose to be about 14 during the time of The Hunger Games so I'm going to say he's about 17 in the time of my story. He'll be explained later so don't worry. Thank you all so much for reading and please leave a review! I hope you enjoyed it! **


	5. The Kicks of Passion

**Hey guys! So sorry for this long wait! With the last few weeks of summer and then returning to school it has been really hard to write but hopefully I'll be able to get chapters out sooner for you! Anyway, here you go and I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

"Miss Snow? Are you with me?" Rory Hawthorne asked, waving his hand in front of my face as I stared blankly into space. Twenty minutes had passed since Gale said that he would go to clean his wound and change but still he had not returned; he said that he would be back by now. My eyes were glued to the elevator doors, waiting for them to shoot up and reveal that my bodyguard was okay but they had yet to do that and I was about to go mad.

Not only was I in a state of shock at the fact that I had almost been shot but also in a state of panic because Gale had.

"Serena?" Gale's younger brother put his hands gently on my shoulders and turned me to look up at him. I noted once more that he had gray eyes that matched Gale's. Rory studied me for a second before sighing. "Jeez, not only have you done a number on him but he's got you tightly wrapped, doesn't he?" He looked around the room, at the other kids and guards, before his eyes settled on a bench against the far wall. "Come on."

Rory led me over and sat me down but did not sit himself; he continued to stand, his arms crossed across his chest and his eyes surveying the room. I began to chew on my flawless lip before realizing that this action was unacceptable; my mother always used to say that biting your lip was just as bad as biting your finger nails and if you started doing that you might as well live in the wild with the dogs. Instead, I focused my eyes on Rory and his serious face.

"Where did they take him? The man who-" I couldn't say it.

"I'm not entirely sure but they will probably question him then either let him go or kill him."

I felt my eyebrows rise. "Those are too very different ends for the man who tried to kill me and almost killed Gale."

Rory shrugged, chuckling slightly. "Yeah, well welcome to post-Capital Panem."

Really? Was he laughing? Because I found nothing humorous about this situation. I couldn't understand how he could stand there so casually like this was an ordinary situation. My anger began to grow, boiling my blood, causing my blue eyes to narrow to slits. I stood up and shook my head at the guard.

"Well, post-Capital Panem is. A. Joke!" I poked my finger into his chest, hard, after every word to let him know how absolutely disgusted and serious I was. Rory's face fell and his eyes widened but I still glared; my face was now inches from him. "I don't care if that madman was after me, Gale, or anyone else. There should be proper punishment and if there isn't then-"

"Serena-" Rory tried to warn me but there was no time.

"Back up." I felt someone tug me away from the younger Hawthorne and back against the bench. The back of my knees collided with the metal and gave way, making me fall onto the seat. I looked up to see two guards standing over me with what could only be described as clubs in their hands.

The guard closest to me leaned down and got close to my face, only inches away. "You will respect your superiors, girl, do you understand? And this guard is your superior." His voice was rough and mean; I knew he was one of the ones who wanted me to die. I'm sure he would have let that man kill me and save everyone the trouble of doing it in the Games if the choice was his.

"Hey!" He screamed, his breath hot on my face. "I said did you hear me!?"

I jumped back as the memories from my time in captivity came back to me. The men who watched over me in my cell would yell at me like that, saying things, awful things, taunting me. Those minutes would pass by like hours, the hours like days, and the days like a millennium.

I pressed my eyes closed and began to think of the ways to tie different knots; it is what Finnick said kept him calm in tense, seemingly hopeless situations. There was the fisherman's knot…always the go-to in Finnick's home district.

"I said-!?" His hand was at my chin and I flinched away but he only clenched onto it tighter. During this moment, I saw the man who grabbed my hair and forced me to watch my parents murdered flash across my line of vision. "Did you hear-!?"

"Hey!"

The guard instantly backed away a step but I was still trapped in my mind…in the midst of my parents murder and then my own beating. I could feel my capturer's hands on me, his finger's laced tightly around my hair and tugging hard. There was pain and panic from all sides.

And then, all of sudden, it was gone.

Instead of the rebel's arms, I was locked inside Gale's as he pushed past the guard and swooped in to shield me from the two new guards. Gale wrapped me tightly to his chest and I was content to keep my head buried there for a moment as I attempted to get the lingering image of my parents' dead bodies out of my mind's eye.

"What the hell do you think you two are doing?!" Gale questioned, sounding like he used to when we first started living together.

"The Capital brat was disrespectful to Private Hawthorne. She was talking back, striking him."

"She didn't strike me." Rory piped up before sighing. "Miss Snow poked me in the chest, nothing more."

I heard Gale scoff. "I don't give damn if she pulled a knife on the three of you! This girl is in shock! She was almost killed. Show a little compassion, gentlemen." Gale's voice was rough and low, like he was ready to attack. I would have liked to see the look on the other men's faces, just to see if it was the same terrified one that I'm sure I made when he talked like this, but I wasn't ready to emerge from the warmth of his embrace just yet.

"Why should we?" The other guard spat out. "Her people wouldn't do it for us; that pampered Capital darling wouldn't think twice about it."

Gale's breathing changes, his breathes were coming quickly and more shallow, and I felt him tug me away gently. I looked up at him but he did not return my gaze. Instead, I saw him purse his lips and spin, instantly his fist made contact with the second guard's face and he stumbled back.

Rory was at my side now, ready to take me away if a true fight broke out, but I knew it wouldn't; Gale was just trying to prove some point. The one question now was what it was.

The second guard lifted his hand to his nose, revealing that it was blooding quite heavily. Thanks to my training down in this pit, I could now tell that the man's nose was broken and would need to be set. I could do it if I had to…but I wasn't going to volunteer or anything.

Gale's eyes connected with the guards and kept his gaze. "She is not her people, got it? You don't know her." He paused to run his fingers through his hair to calm himself down. "You listen to me closely, now. Serena Snow is under my direct supervision and authority…and I outrank you. If I so much as see you or your buddy so much as glare in her direction I will not only kick your ass but also make sure you are sent back to Eleven for good. Do I make myself clear?"

The guard nodded quickly, angrily, before turning to his buddy, giving him a look, and then they were both gone.

Gale shook his head once, trying to rid himself of his frustration, I think, before his eyes turned back to me. He pursed his lips as he gently tilted my chin up with his pointer finger to examine it. "You okay?" He asked.

I nodded.

"You sure?" He questioned me softly and just nodded again. It was then his turn to nod before he turned to look over at his younger brother with the same look he had set the other two with. "Twenty minutes. I asked you to watch out for her for twenty minutes and I come back to this? What were you doing, Rory, honestly!"

The boy looked wounded as he sputtered for words; it was then that I decided to speak.

"It was my fault." I said, earning Gale's attention now and a look that screamed 'oh, great, I can't wait to hear this'. I took a deep breath and cleared my throat. Rory's eyes went wide as I started to talk. "I-I was, I don't know, upset or something when you left and he couldn't give me any answers so I took out my frustrations on him—which wasn't fair at all, by the way, and I'm sorry—so those guards noticed the whole disturbance and…this lovely situation occurred." I shrugged, defeated. "I'm sorry, Gale. I was just…worried."

After what just happened with the other guards, I expected him to yell and shake his finger in my face, maybe even give me a good long glare that would have me shrinking back into the bench once more.

But he didn't do any of those things.

Instead, Gale pursed his lips and nodded once sternly. His eyes turned from me to his younger brother. Rory's eyes widened slightly again as if he were waiting for the other shoe to drop as Gale thought over what he would say next. Finally, he settled on jerking his head in the direction of the tributes. "Get back to work, kid. I've got this one."

Rory smiled at his older brother, relief flooding his face all the while, before his gaze came to me. He nodded in my direction before taking Gale's order and going back to his post in the far end of the room near the fire-making station. The elder Hawthorne waited a moment, watching the younger one go, before he looked back at me.

He took a deep breath and ran his hand through his dark hair. "So, do you want to go practice your knife throwing?"

I raised an eyebrow but did not question his oh-so-subtle change of subject. Instead, I just shook my head and chuckled uneasily at the idea of holding a weapon so soon after one was just fired at us; that thought infuriated me. "No, I think I'm fine with melting into the ground and pretending I don't exist for the rest of the day." I said, feeling my knees buckle before I collapsed onto the bench below me.

Coming forward, Gale kneeled down in front of me so I had to look down at him and he up at me. "You okay, princess?"

"Physically? Sure. Mentally? I feel like…"

"Shit?"

My forehead scrunched up at the foul sounding word. Perhaps it was a District phrase? Nothing so barbaric would be uttered within the Capital limits, or at least, it wouldn't have been in the past. Not fully understanding but not wanting to seem naïve, I nodded. "Yeah, like shit…I'm just not really feeling in the mood to do much of anything right now, okay?"

Gale exhaled deeply. "Look at me." I did reluctantly. "You aren't going to let this affect you, do you understand me? We made it through this with minimal bumps and bruises and we are going to be fine." The man grabbed my arms and helped me to my feet. "You're scared, I get that, but there are much bigger things out there to fear than this."

Gale gave me a half smile. "We'll get through this, Serena. You'll have to if you want to get a decent score tomorrow." He paused to flick my chin playfully. "Now, chin up, princess. Let's go."

* * *

Sitting in my kitchen later that night, I twirled a butter knife around in my fingers, wondering not only about my past but also about my future. This morning was…well, I didn't even want to think about that. And tomorrow's judging…well, I didn't even want to think about that either. It was all too dramatic.

And I had had it with the drama. All of it that had been around since I was a kid. The capital was overthrown, it wasn't supposed to be this complicated. Life was supposed to be easier now, wasn't it? No more stupid rules of society, no more class, no more pointless hate or praise. But it was all still here.

Gale walked down the hall and into the kitchen, a little bristle and his gun in hand for cleaning. He sat down across from me but didn't look up.

That smallest of actions, him making his presence known to me, reassuring me that he and I were both alive and alright, sent me back into a downward spiral of drama and complications. My back straightened in my chair, my cheeks flushed slightly, and my long eyelashes began to bat out of their own accord. Once I realized what was going on, I mentally slapped my Capital self across the face.

Even though there was still confusion and drama, there was no call for such ridiculous actions as those. Capital Serena was dead. This new Serena, the one going into the Games in little over a week, wouldn't blink twice over Gale Hawthorne entering a room. She would have more important things to worry about…she does have more important things to worry about than…than what? What was it that I was feeling for Gale? Admiration? Envy? Friendship blooming into…into I had no idea what.

"What is it?"

His voice made me jump and drop the knife that I had still been twirling. "Huh?"

"What are you thinking? About tomorrow, right?" He still didn't look up at me, just continued to clean his gun.

I nodded, feeling relief flood over me. "Yeah, I am." I sat back in my chair and took a deep breath. There was a small silence as I thought over what I would be doing tomorrow. "Hey, Gale?"

The sound of his name on my lips made him look up, finally. He tilted his head to me, showing that he was listening.

I bite at my lower lip nervously. "You-I mean, you'll be there tomorrow, won't you? …with me?"

He chuckled lightly and nodded. "Yeah, I'll be there…every second of it. See them try to stop me after the work I put into you." He winked at me before putting all of his attention back onto the task at hand.

Gale didn't realize it, but he had just lifted a one million pound weight off my chest and, for some reason for the slightest of seconds, I felt like I had a chance of getting sponsors. But then I remembered that I wasn't some nameless, loveable District girl going into the Games. I was Serena Snow, everyone hated me and wanted me dead. The comfort that his gray-eyed wink had given me faded and I was left with a bundle of nerves once more.

* * *

I was sitting in the waiting area—really it was just the cafeteria minus the disgusting food—with Gale sitting in the chair next to mine. My right leg was bouncing up and down so fast you would have thought there was an earthquake under my feet. This whole thing wouldn't have been that bad, you know, if it was not for the waiting game you had before it.

I was going to be last; it was just my luck. They had decided to go by age with boys going before girls and, of course, that leaves me as the last possible person to show my strengths to the Game Makers. I had been waiting for about two hours now and I was about ready to burst.

My leg was bouncing even more.

Then all of a sudden it wasn't. I looked down to discover that Gale's hand was on top of my knee and holding my trembling leg in place. Looking over at my bodyguard, I saw that he was setting me with a stern look.

"Jiggle that leg one more time and you'll lose it, got it princess?"

I nodded quickly and Gale did the same before he released his grip on me. He sat back in his chair and took a deep breath. "Everything is going to be alright. I've said it a hundred times, don't worry about it."

"That's easy to say for you, you aren't the one who's going into the arena." I mumbled as I crossed my legs and noticed that the bottom one started to tremble once more.

Gale obviously didn't find this funny because he was back in my face in a second. "Hey, look at me." I did as instructed; my blue eyes met his gray ones. "Yeah, this sucks that you are going in there but the fact of the matter is that you are in the Hunger Games. Accept it, embrace it, move on, and kick ass in that room."

"Serena Snow."

I jumped slightly at the sound of my name being called so off handedly through the loudspeaker…when had the other two people gone in? I had no recollection of them leaving. My knees wobbled as I stood, Gale a half second behind me, and I began to walk towards the large double doors.

Breath came in short little puffs as I fought to keep my nerves at bay. This was it, the first time I would be meeting the Game Makers; I wondered if it would be anyone I knew from previous games.

I didn't dwell on the thought for too long, though. It wasn't as important as the other things on my mind. My feet took me into the room and I saw the training area, just the same as it always was except for being completely still and empty.

No, wait. There they were. The Game Makers were up on the old viewing deck that had been pretty dead since we arrived here; I guess they didn't care to get to know the tributes this time around.

I stepped up to the viewing deck, took a deep breath, and looked into the faces of the Game Makers.

They were all men, none of whom I recognized. Their expressions looked bored and angry, like they wondered why they needed to be here. I had an answer to their question—because they _chose _to have these Hunger Games—but wouldn't be sharing it with them.

"Your name?" The eldest of the men asked me.

I cleared my throat. "Ser-Serena Snow, sir."

He nodded, seemingly unfazed by who I was unlike everyone else. He jotted something down on a pad of paper he had on his lap before waving me away to show them what I could do.

My eyes flinted to Gale but his gaze was elsewhere and I was forced to look back over in the direction of the targets. Next to the targets, the weapons were set up, waiting to be used. I went over to the cart with the knives and looked them over, deciding which one would suit me best. A sigh sounded from behind me and I thought the Game Makers felt like I should be moving at a more rapid pace. Selecting the smallest, seemingly least deadly knife, first I took my place about thirty feet away from the target dummy.

A deep breath trembled through my whole body as I tried to stop the shaking in my arms just long enough to throw this one weapon. A Game Maker cleared his throat from the viewing deck and I knew it wasn't long now before I lost their attention completely. Without thinking any further, I raised my arm and hurled the knife towards the dummy. My eyes followed it as it soared through the air coming close to the fake human's body…and then missing it completely.

A low rumble from the viewing deck caught my attention and that is when I knew my only chance of proving myself to them had come and gone; they had officially checked out of my trial run. I glanced over at Gale, feeling defeated, as I went to select another knife. His expression was full of sympathy and that made me feel even worse than I already did.

I shrugged slightly as I tried to keep my cool as well as my tears at bay. I picked the next knife at random and went back to my spot, this time standing a few steps closer to the target. Another deep breath shuddered through me as I brought the knife, stretched my arm back, and flung in forward. Though this throw was better, it was still pretty terrible. It only hit the dummy in the shoulder; I wasn't sure it could be considered much more than a flesh wound.

"Thank you, Miss Snow. I think we have seen quite enough." The man, who must have been the Head Game Maker, told me.

I turned to look at them and my mouth dropped. "But-but-I-"

The men started to stand and leave when I heard a voice ring out through training room. I was really surprised when it occurred to me that it was mine. "I am not finished!"

The Head Game Maker looked back at me with a raised eyebrow. "I _beg _your pardon?"

Oh, my God. What had I done? Where had that rush of confidence just come from? And where did it go back to because right now I was full of fear and nerves again. "I said-I said I am not finished yet." My eyes left the Game Maker's when I feel his dark brown one's burning a hole into me and they landed back on the knives. My hand found the handle of one and I picked it up to begin twirling it as I talked.

"I'm not the best fighter in the world and I'm sure that doesn't come as a big shock to you." I paused as I looked over at them and saw that it didn't. "But I'm smart and strong willed and I will make it far in this competition whether you people like it or not."

At that moment, I heard one of the men up in the deck chuckle. My eyes went over to him and I tilted my head in question. "Miss Snow, you have no useful skills whatsoever."

I pursed my lips. "Sir, I have been stabbed and shot at in the past week, not to mention tortured and held prisoner for little less than a year…I'd say staying alive is a pretty useful skill when jumping into an endeavor such as this, don't you?"

The man didn't answer me, just kept staring. I cleared my throat. "Thank you for your time, gentlemen. I am positive I didn't waste it."

I turned and started to walk out of the room, not caring to look back at the men in the viewing area; though I didn't waste their time, they sure did waste mine. Moments earlier I had been scared senseless and now I couldn't be more filled with confidence and rage. Well, the confidence was probably fueled by the rage. I knew the moment I walked out of those doors I would instantly regret…

The doors flew closed behind me and my heart sank. "Oh, my God. What have I done?" I flew around and saw Gale standing behind me; my eyes went wide. "What is the matter with you? Why did you let me say those things in there!?"

One of the man's eyebrows lifted. "Excuse me?'

I spurted to get some words out but soon realized that I must have looked quite unsophisticated. My lips pulled together and I took a deep breath. Just because I was upset, terrified, and about ready to have a heart attack didn't mean that I could _look _like all of those things.

"I just shouldn't have reacted in that manner. It was not courteous of me no matter how much I detest the men in that room."

Gale smiled slightly but it didn't reach his eyes. "You are doing it again: the thing where you talk very intelligently when you are nervous."

I scuffed. "Well, of course I am nervous, Gale! I just insulted a room full of men who are in direct control of my livelihood! I could 'randomly' step on a landmine just because of what I said to them!" I shook my head. "This is an absolute disaster. I just can't believe I did that."

I felt Gale put a hand on my shoulder and pat it gently. "It's going to be okay, Serena."

I nodded but didn't believe him. My feet turned and started leading me over to the elevator even though I didn't tell them too but I didn't mind much; the faster I got away from this place the better.

"Hey, I'll meet you by the doors." I heard Gale call to me through the cloud of fear that surrounded me. "I left my jacket back in the training room. The guards by the elevator will look after you until I get back."

"Whatever." I told him, waving to my bodyguard over my shoulder. Seconds later I heard the doors swoosh open and then closed again.

I was so preoccupied in my own mind for it to occur to me that Gale had been wearing his jacket the entire time.

* * *

Curled up on the plush couch later that night, I waited for Caesar Flickerman to appear on the old blurry television screen and announce the tributes scores. I had my knees tucked tightly to my chest as if they would protect me from the blow I was about to receive but I knew nothing would help.

I was done for. It was as simple as that.

"Here, princess. Drink this." Gale handed me a mug as he passed by to take a seat next to me on the couch. My fingers wrapped around the warm mug and I felt my muscles relax slightly.

"Thanks." I told him as I brought drink to my lips and took a deep gulp…only to choke a second later on the burning liquid. "Oh, that is definitely not tea." I coughed as I brought the mug up to smell what resided within it.

Gale chuckled lightly. "It's my own special kind of tea. I thought you could use a little to calm you down." He took a sip from his own cup. "I assume you don't drink hard liquor then?"

I thought back to the last time I tasted a concoction such as the one my bodyguard had given me and I nodded my head. "No, I used to drink it…just not often."

"Oh? Let me guess, you snuck off with your friends to drink, right?"

I shook my head, thinking back at the memory. "No, none of my Capital friends would dare try to sneak liquor…Finnick on the other hand had no fear when it came to that sort of thing." I paused, looked over at Gale, and took another burning sip.

It was Gale's turn to shake his head. "No fear…yeah, that sounds like Finnick, alright."

"Sure he was." I retorted. "He was just excellent at hiding it."

My bodyguard was silent for a moment. "You really did know him, didn't you? You two were actually friends?"

I wanted to say yes but couldn't. It was strange; I had always considered Finnick O'Dair to be my best friend but now that I was going through the process of the Hunger Games I wondered if he could have ever liked me. Was he my friend or was it all an act he had to put on to please my grandfather? I couldn't see how he could tolerate to be in the same room as someone who allowed such a barbaric charade to go on unquestioned, let alone have tender feelings for them.

In all honesty, it would be easier to think that he was just acting instead of being a true friend. At least that way I could continue to think the Capital citizens and the District people were on the same level— one that was shallow and consisted of people trying to get by the best way they knew how. But if he was different and liked me for me then that made Finnick O'Dair better than all of us with a pure heart and it would make me feel ever worse about myself than I already did for simply being born as me.

"I'm not sure anymore."

Gale didn't say anything else because there was no time. Next thing either of us knew, Caesar's aging face was on the previous black screen, looking distant and unenthused.

"Good evening, ladies and gentleman. Welcome to tonight's special broadcast. Tonight we will be bringing you the twenty-four tribute's training scores given to them by the Game Makers. Let's get started."

"Well, he sure doesn't stand on ceremony anymore, does he?" Gale asked, trying to lighten the mood but failing.

I didn't answer him but kept my eyes glued to the screen. Setting my mug down on the coffee table, I leaned forward and gave Caesar my full attention as he listed off my competition and their scores from training. They started off with the youngest kids and then went up in age from there.

Most of the scores were low to middle, ranging from four to seven. I was surprised to see that both of my little friends, Lawson and Neva, received sixes. I'm not exactly sure what they did to get that but I'm guessing it had something to do with their quickness and size. That blonde girl named Cecily only received a four along with several other girls and the little boys. The older ones, however, seemed to be holding their own and received higher scores that ranged anywhere from five to nine.

Wow, Tyus managed to earn himself a ten.

"I wish that kid wasn't such a prick. You could have used him on your side." Gale mumbled. I shushed him.

The two other eighteen year olds, both men, received nines for their scores and looked pretty mean, like they were willing to kill and would not feel sorry for it. I really didn't think they would; after all, we weren't raised to have a conscious around the Capital, just manners.

"And finally, our last tribute of the night…Serena Snow." I felt my heart sink as Caesar looked down at his notes to figure out my number. My hand flew out to Gale's and grabbed it tightly—I didn't even realize I did it—as I rocked even further onto my knees and closer to the television. "And Miss Snow received a score of nine."

I felt the breath held in my lungs rush out in one whoosh as an unbelieving sigh ran through me.

A nine!

"That will be all for tonight's announcements." Caesar told the population of Panem. "Good luck, tributes…May the odds…May the odds be ever in your favor."

The screen went black and Gale and I were left alone once more. My grip on the bodyguard's hand slackened as my mind needed all my attention on processing the score I had just received.

"Hey, princess." My eyes went to Gale who was grinning at me, a twinkle resided in his gray eyes. "A nine is not too damn bad."

A smile began to spread across my own face as the number flashed across my vision. I chuckled. "Yeah. Not too bad."

A sudden giddiness came over me as it finally dawned on me that this was my real score and I completely broke down in a fit of laughter. Before I knew what I was doing, I threw my arms around Gale's neck and squeezed tight. "I can't believe it!"

His body was tense under mine for a moment, but slowly I felt as he relaxed into my hug and finally returned it, wrapping his own arms around me eventually. Gale's face was buried in my neck and hair and I felt his nose pressed against my skin. Suddenly, it was my turn to go rigid.

Slowly, I pushed his chest away from his so I could look him in the eye. Gale's gaze met mine and instantly we connected in a way that was so strange and new. I felt as he pulled me closer to him, holding me tighter, and that is when I had to look away, finding my eyes drawn over to his shoulder and the piece of my hair that was now on his jacket.

Then it hit me.

"Wait, a minute." I said, causing Gale to completely freeze, pushing me back even more. I looked back up at him with confusion in my eye to see slight fear in his; whatever had passed between us a second earlier had evaporated. "You had your jacket on this afternoon, didn't you?"

Gale rolled his eyes, taking his hands completely off my waist now and instead turning his attention back to his mug that he had placed on the coffee table next to mine. "Why would I have gone back in there if I had?" He drained the remaining liquid from his cup and pointed to mine. "You done with that?"

"Yes, and don't change the subject." I paused as he finished off the liquor-laced tea from my mug, as well. "You said something to the Game Makers. That's why my score was so high."

Gale tilted his head to me and furrowed his brow. Without a word, he took the mugs from the table, stood, and headed for the kitchen. I stood up too and threw my hands up at his retreating back. "What? You aren't going to admit it?"

"Nope." He shouted over his shoulder as he dropped the cups into the sink with a loud clang.

"Well, why not!?"

The man turned back to me with pursed lips and an angry look on his face that I had seen numerous times. The next thing I knew, Gale was stomping towards me like a one-man army. He closed the gap between us, towering over me, like always. My bodyguard glared down at me for a few seconds before he took a deep breath and shook his head.

What happened next, I would never have seen coming.

Gale Hawthorne grabbed me by the back of the neck and pulled me towards him, closing the little space that had existed between the two of us so that now our lips collided in what could only be described as one of the most confusing kisses I had ever had. Most of the time I could understand what a guy was thinking by the way he kissed me; but Gale was different.

It was almost like he hated me, liked me, wanted to protect me, and hurt me all at the same time.

Well, then again, maybe this was true. Maybe Gale did feel all those things at once but I couldn't be sure. I never knew what he was thinking.

My bodyguard broke the connection between our lips but kept his hand firmly on the back of my neck. His deep, soulful gray eyes bore into mine as he breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath. "Because if I admit that then I'm going to have to start admitting a hell of a lot more to myself that I'm not ready to."

The words no sooner left his mouth before he dropped his hold on me, turned, and stomped out of the room. I heard his door slam a second later, just like mine had several nights ago—just like one of our doors seems do every night—and I am left standing there, stunned. I wasn't thinking about my score or the Games then. My thoughts had wandered elsewhere, to the man who something to admit but couldn't, who had secrets to share but wouldn't, and left me speechless more times than I could count.

I don't know how long I stood there staring at the spot where Gale disappeared and left me more confused than ever, before I finally went to sleep so I could wake the next morning and repeat this process all over again.

* * *

**I made this one extra long for you since you guys had to wait so long for it. I hope you enjoyed it. Please tell me what you think! Thank you so much for reading!  
**


	6. Always and Never

**Hello readers! I am beyond sorry for the long wait you have had for this chapter. Life, as always, gets in the way of my writing and I have very little time to accomplish anything. I hope you forgive me and are ready for the next chapter!**

**Okay, here we go!**

* * *

Two days passed, meaning it has been an entire week since this whole process has started…can it only have been a week? So much had changed since the reaping that I didn't even know where to begin.

For starters, I supposed I was stabbed and assigned a personal bodyguard. Then I was trained to fight for my life with weapons I had never even seen before and actually got pretty good at it, which was a scary thought considering the fact that I'm not exactly sure I would be able to utilize them once I was in the arena. I've made a couple of friends and also an enemy or…several.

But most importantly, I managed to get to know Gale, the real Gale. The man that was sitting across from me—sitting on the couch, cleaning his gun, as always—was much more than the celebrity rebel I saw on the television. He is kind, protective, at times to complete opposite of al those things, and more complex than I ever could have imagined.

Gale was not just a bodyguard; he meant more to me than that. But I was not sure where we stood after the weird moment two nights ago when he…kissed me. The man never mentioned it again nor made eye contact with me since. I couldn't help but wonder if I did something wrong or if he was mad at me for some reason.

When he kissed me, Gale said that he couldn't admit to helping out with the judges without having to admit a lot more to himself. A part of me hoped that meant that he had feelings for me but another part prayed that he didn't. Too many things could go wrong if feelings got involved in this relationship that we have.

"Ahh, damn it!"

Gale's shout pulled me out of my thoughts and I looked over to see that his finger was bleeding. He shook it a couple of times before sucking the blood from the wound.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I rushed from my spot on the chair to the couch. I knelt down in front of him and took his hand from his mouth. "Let me see it."

"No, it's fine." He told me, trying to take his finger back but I wouldn't let him.

"Oh, come on. Don't be so stubborn. It'll give me a chance to practice my first aid skills-"

"Serena, don't touch me!" He yelled as he stood up from the couch leaving me on the floor feeling absolutely dumbfounded. The man walked over to the large windows and looked down at the city below, running his non-bleeding hand through his hair to work out his frustration.

"Okay." I said. "I'm s-sorry." I paused as I too stood up. My arms wrapped tightly around torso as I tried to figure out what was going on. Those were the most words he had spoken to me in a few days and, to be honest, they hurt quite a bit. If I hadn't known where Gale Hawthorne stood a moment ago, I definitely did then. "I-I don't know what I did to make you mad, Gale." The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them.

I didn't mean to say that. Gale wasn't supposed to know my stupid Capitol-girl inner dialogue.

My bodyguard dropped his hand and turned back to look at me with sad, gray eyes. The man was just looking at me and I couldn't take it; it was just too much to take in with him feeling sympathetic and mad at me at the same time.

The next second I spun around and headed down the hallway, the need to escape filled every inch of my being. But I couldn't go to my room though. No, I needed open air and room to breath. I bypassed my room that was directly across from Gale's and followed the hallway all the way down until I reached the stairs that led up to the roof of the skyscraper.

I ran up the flight of steps, taking two at a time, until I reached the door and flung it open. The cold night air hit me like a ton of bricks and I sighed in relief. This was what I needed.

I walked to the center of the helipad, where the plane had dropped Gale and I off on our first day at the training center, and laid down to look at the stars. Before the war, when my grandfather was in charge, the lights were so bright in the city that you could never see any stars but now that the rebels ran things there was a strict 'lights-out' policy effective at 10:00 PM. Since it was now 11:30, the city was dark and the night sky was all mine.

It was one of the very few things I enjoyed about rebel rule.

The door opened, then closed. I heard it and I prayed that it was just the wind making that sound but then I saw Gale walking towards me and knew that luck, as always, was not on my side. The man came over to my spot on the helipad and looked down at me for a moment; my eyes stayed directed at the stars.

Once he realized that I wasn't going to look at him, I think he gave up and decided to join me on the ground. Gale removed his suit jacket and laid beside me to look up at the sky.

A second later I heard him sigh. "You didn't do anything, Serena." He explained.

I rolled my head over to the side to look at him and found that he was a lot closer that I realized. Gale's face, only inches from mine, held a look of sympathy and regret that might be plastered there permanently from now on. The man returned my gaze and gave me a half smile.

"You sure make it seem like I did, Mr. Hawthorne." I told him as a frown still played across my own face.

"That wasn't my intention."

I chuckled then. "Yeah, you are never very clear on your intentions, are you Gale?"

I got up, walked away from him, and went over to the edge of the building so I could look down at the ruin of my once beautiful city. Oh, how it had changed like everything else in my topsy-turvy life.

"What do you want me to say?" Gale asked. I could hear the slight shake in his voice as he tried to keep his cool. I was making him mad, that much was certain, but it seemed to be the only way to make him say what was really on his mind.

"I want you to tell me the truth." I explained before spinning back to him.

"What are you talking about?" His eyebrows furrowed up like he thought I was crazy and I scoffed.

"Oh, you are pretending like I'm out of my mind, now, is that it? Well, let me tell you one thing, Gale Hawthorne, I might be a 'pampered Capitol darling' but I'm not a fool. We both know that something happened between us and I know it meant something!" I shrug my shoulders hopelessly. "Are you going to deny it?"

The man clenched his jaw and shook his head. His pause lingered way too long.

A breath fell out of my lungs. "Oh, my god. You are." I nodded my head as I registered what was going on. "Okay, then. My mistake. I guess I am just the 'selfish Serena Snow who thinks everyone has a crush on her' from the rebel propaganda…I'm sorry."

I tried to walk past him, to retreat, to hide, to just get away from this embarrassment at any cost, but Gale grabbed my arm to stop me. The man was so tall that I had to crane my neck upwards to see his face; his jaw was still clenched and his eyes were still diverted.

"I told you I wasn't ready to admit this to myself…" He explained. "Why the hell couldn't you just leave it alone?"

I couldn't answer that question for him because I had no good answer for it. He was right, absolutely right. I should have left this entire issue alone. It would have been better to keep it buried instead of out in the open where it could get someone hurt—like Gale. He had told me that he wasn't ready to admit this, whatever this is, to himself yet and I just forced him to because I had to know for my own selfish reasons. Perhaps I was that selfish Serena Snow that everyone thought I was.

"I'm sorry." I finally replied before ripping my arm away and heading back for the door. I had just made it when Gale caught up and held it shut, not allowing me to go.

"Stop apologizing, princess." He demanded before pausing to take a deep breath. "Just stop saying you're sorry, stop running away, stop being an absolute mess in training." I looked down at my feet and began to play with my fingers—something my mother hated that I did when I was nervous or upset. The next instant I felt Gale's fingers under my chin, forcing me to look up at him. "Stop looking down and making yourself look weak…" His face softened. "Stop looking up at me through your thick eyelashes and playing with those fingers." Gale took my hands in his own and I bit my lower lip as my nerves got the better of me. "Stop biting that lip that I adored kissing the other day."

Gale leaned in closer as if his lips were about to meet mine but they never actually touched. His mouth just hovered an inch above mine and stayed there. My breathing, along with his, became heavy with the idea of the expected kiss hanging in the air. "And for the love of all that is good, " Gale whispered, "stop making me feel so out of control when I am around you and just let me do my job."

My bodyguard stepped back then, taking both his lips and his hands with him. A chill ran over me as he put that distance between us and goose bumps rose on my skin. The man shook his head in my direction. "It can't happen between us, Serena. It just can't."

He opened the door and was gone. Just like that. It was as easy for him as cleaning that ridiculous gun of his to leave after saying all of those things.

It infuriated me actually. It is completely improper for a person to shout out like that and then run away. A lack of manners such as that—

No, he wasn't being all of those things. I was just being a Capitol brat. Gale…Gale was just being realistic, not living in the fantasy world that I used to know. He understood that nothing ever could happen between us not only because I was going in the arena in a week's time but also because of who we were.

The Capitol princess and the rebel celebrity—it would never be allowed. The mobs would begin forming once they got the smallest whisper of what was happening; this, of course, would be nothing to me since I was already scheduled to die, but Gale would be put in harm's way; they would kill him for treason, it's not hard to know the outcome when it comes to the rebels from the Districts.

No, it would never work. And I would have to except that for at least a week longer.

Feeling unable to venture back into the penthouse, I went back to the helipad and lay back down to stare at the stars once more.

* * *

It was morning when I woke with the sun shining directly in my face; I had fallen asleep on the roof by accident. My back was cold against the hard concrete ground under me but surprisingly warm from up above. I raised my head up to see that during the night a blanket had been brought to cover me.

Gale had managed to keep me warm but he couldn't keep me from suffering a terrible backache. I sat up and rolled my neck, realizing why I had never slept on the ground before last night.

Not knowing what time it was, I decided that I had to get up right away to ensure that I wasn't late for training no matter how much I wished I could skip it. I folded the blanket and draped it over my arm before heading back down the stairs and into the warm penthouse.

The hallway was quiet, like no one was there, but I knew better than to think I was entirely alone. I made my way over to Gale's room and slowly opened the door but he was not in there nor his bathroom. The next place to check was the kitchen and that was where I headed next.

My feet took me the rest of the way down the black marble hallway to see Gale with his back to me at the sink, washing his hands.

"Good morning," I greeted him as I placed the blanket over the back of the nearest dining chair and rolled my neck one more time.

"Morning," He returned in a voice that was not his own. The man turned around to reveal that he was, in fact, not Gale at all; just a boy that looked a lot like him.

"Rory?!" I asked, completely surprised.

"Serena-Miss Snow, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." He told me as he dried off his hands and spun completely around.

I shook my head. "No, no. It's fine. I just…I didn't know you were here and you and your brother look really similar from the back."

The boy rubbed the back of his neck and nodded. "It the Seam traits that we share…everyone it Twelve pretty much looks like that, it's not just us."

I nodded my head and placed my hand over my pounding heart as an attempt to slow it down; he had managed to jumpstart my heart this morning. "Where is Gale?" I questioned, wondering now why Rory was here and Gale was seemingly missing.

The boy's usually cheerful face fell slightly. "Miss Snow, Gale told me what happened last night."

My previously pounding heart stopped beating all together. "He-he did?"

Rory nodded. "He explained how the two of you had gotten into a fight and he just needed to get away for a while to cool off."

I released a deep breath that I hadn't realized that I had been holding when I found out that Gale had told him a lie; I felt a rush a relief come over me. "Oh, he told you that, did he?"

Rory nodded sympathetically once more. "That brother of mine is a hot head so don't take it personally, all right? He just needs a little time to realize that he was being an absolute idiot and then he'll meet us down in the training room."

I chuckled. "And how do you know it was Gale that was being the idiot?"

Rory smiled, bringing his normal, bright face back into view. "I know my brother…he is almost always the idiot in these situations." He paused to go over to the counter and grab a steaming mug; he handed it to me. "Now, drink up and then go get ready. We have to be to training in thirty minutes."

"Thanks." I told him before taking a small sip. The boy nodded before going back over to the counter and beginning to put the dishes away that he had apparently just been washing. He looked at the frying pan and then at me.

"Oh, I would have made you some, too, but Gale said that you really aren't one for breakfast…now that I think about it perhaps I should have done it anyway considering he could have been lying since he was mad at you."

I shook my head. "No, he was right. I really don't eat it but thanks all the same. It was sweet of you."

Rory mumbled a 'yup' before going about his business while I drank my coffee. As he did this, I studied the boy and realized that he is much similar to Gale that I realized down in the training room. It goes much further than the way they look but also to the way they move and react…the way the two differ, however, was in their disposition.

"Hey Rory, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, go for it." He said as he finished up with the dishes and came over to lean against the table next to me.

"How did you end up so nice and Gale so…well, cynical?"

The security guard shrugged his shoulders. "It's actually because of Gale that I am lucky enough to be like this." He admitted. "Before the war, when things were really bad in Twelve for us, Gale kept my family fed and healthy. He put his name into the reaping like fifty times when he was eighteen. My younger siblings and I barely knew what the Hunger Games were because of him. He shielded us, protected us from them. And then during the war, he kept us safe from that too. When Katniss escaped during the 75th Games, he got us out of Twelve when your grandfather decided to bomb us…really he's responsible for getting everyone out. My brother kept us safe and secure and I was never hungry or scared…I think that's why I have the privilege of not being so angry with everything, you know?"

I nodded, understanding perfectly. Gale took away all the trouble from his family and placed them on his own shoulders. It made so much sense to me now why he was so full of rage.

"I don't care if you were shielded from it or not. None of that should have happened to any of you. I'm so sorry."

"I know you are." Rory chuckled. "You know that is the first apology I have received from a Capitol person? And to think it is coming from Serena Snow…?" The boy chuckled again.

"Is it so hard to believe that I have a heart?" I asked. He shook his head.

"No, it's just ironic. Your grandfather is the one who made this mess and you are the one who is trying to clean it up."

"I can't clean it up, Rory, no matter what happens to me in the games…All I can try to do is make amends to the people who have been hurt."

"It's a hell of a lot more than what others of your rank have been doing since all this has started, Miss Snow."

"And what have they been doing exactly?" I questioned for I did not know. The only Capitol people I have encountered have been at the reaping and at training since I was taken captive.

Rory's face fell again. "They don't do anything. They are afraid of authority, just like we were at one time…Nothing is going to change, you know. These games aren't going to make things better."

"I know that." I told him honestly. I had thought that notion a hundred times before, maybe we all have. I'm not sure.

The boy banged his fist against the table a few times. "It's madness, all of it. The only way to make things better is to join together, not make someone the underdog. When someone is being ruled by another that always leaves the possibility for them to raise up and fight."

"You're absolutely right." I responded, standing up from my chair and going over to give him a pat on the shoulder. "Hopefully one day you'll be able to help the others see that."

I winked at the guard before going over to the sink and rinsing out my coffee mug.

"I've never actually told anyone that theory before." He admitted. "There is no one I would trust who wouldn't turn me in for treason for saying that."

"Not even your brother?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Of course Gale wouldn't turn me in but he would be…disappointed with me." The boy looked down at his hands then jumped slightly. I realized then that he noticed his watch on his wrist. "Oh, we gotta get moving. Only a twenty minutes until we have to be down at the center."

"Oh, right yeah. I'll go get changed then."

The boy nodded and I turned around to head back down the hallway to my bedroom to get ready for yet another day. The only thing different about this particular day? It hadn't started with Gale Hawthorne but with his younger brother who gave me more insight into a man that have only begun to figure out.

* * *

Gale never showed up at training. Rory kept trying to reassure me that he would come but he never did. I thought that I would get worried about him as the hours passed by but surprisingly never did. I was furious with him for abandoning me like this but I couldn't dwell on it for too long knowing that it was Rory who was with me. I liked him and didn't want him to think I was disappointed with the change.

If I was being completely honest, I didn't even think about Gale. While at training I just went from station to station, doing what I needed to get down that day, and talked to Lawson and Neva about some training tips. Before I knew it, it was time to break for the day and Rory and I were headed up to the penthouse.

The elevator doors opened to reveal a still empty apartment…wow, I was _so _shocked. "I'm going to go change and then I'll come back and make some dinner for us, okay?"

"You know how to cook?" Rory asked, sounding quite surprised.

I clicked my tongue as I felt the uneasy of knowing I'd been caught wash over. "Not exactly. But I'll give it a shot anyway."

The boy smiled as removed his suit jacket and set it on the kitchen table; he moved into the kitchen and began rummaging through the cupboards for supplies.

Meanwhile, I went back to the hallway and stopped short of going into my own room and instead, for some reason, went into Gale's. I pushed the door open and saw that everything was just as it had been left this morning; he hadn't come home at all during the course of the day.

It was now then that I started to feel worry ball up in the pit of my stomach.

Where could he possibly have been all of this time?

Trying not to think about it, I decided to go across the hall and get out of these ridiculous spandex clothes. Keeping busy, as I discovered today, would not allow me time to think about him. But then I opened the door to my room and was surprised to see that I was not alone.

Gale was sitting on my bed with his head in one hand and a glass of, what looked to be, alcohol in the other. The man looked up when I came in the room but his expression remained sunken, depressed.

"What are you doing in here?"

"Making sure that brother of mine is covering all of his bases and making sure the apartment was secure like I told him to…apparently he isn't doing a very thorough job if he doesn't even check his charge's room." Gale took a sip from his glass.

"Hey, you be nice to Rory. He's a good kid."

"Oh, don't tell me you've got him wrapped around your finger now, too." The comment was so sarcastic I could feel the anger radiating from my bodyguard.

The words no sooner left Gale's mouth that I scoffed and went over and snatched the glass out of his hand. "You're drunk."

"Am not."

"Whatever you say." I took the glass with me into the bathroom and placed it on the counter while I undid my hair from its thick, tight braids. "So where have you been all day?"

Gale came to rest in the doorway of the bathroom. He leaned against the frame as he began to speak. "Walking around. I needed to clear my head."

I gave the swaying, haggard man a once over. "Yes, I can see that worked out well for you."

"Oh, don't be like that." He growled at me.

"Like what?" I spat back in a way that my mother would be so taken aback by I would have been taken out of society for at least a month in order to regain my sense and manners.

"Quit judging me. Like you have any room to judge other people's decisions when you and your people's decisions ripped an entire country apart!"

"It always comes back to where I come from with you, doesn't it?" I'm furious at the drunken man in front of me, so mad in fact that I allowed the next words to flow from my mouth without even thinking about them. "God, you always need some kind of excuse not to care about me and it always goes back to that. Honestly, find a new one already because we both know you know me better than that." I paused to run my fingers through my hair out of frustration. "I am not my grandfather, Gale! Don't you understand that? Do you really blame me for everything that has happened in the past? Is that why you keep doing this!?"

"Doing what!?"

"Making me fall in love with you just to tell me it will never happen! You are trying to punish me for what my people have done, aren't you!?"

"Yes, I am, all right!?" The man ran over to me, and backed me against the counter; I slammed against it and knocked his glass onto the floor. The crystal shattered and the brown liquid began to run all over the floor, into every nook and crevasse. Gale's face was inches from mine as I looked up at him. He breathed heavily, angrily. "Is that what you wanted to hear, Serena? That all of this between us was a plan to _hurt_ you?" He paused to shake his head and take a deep breath, calming his nerves. "Either I am really sick in the head or you are seriously dark and twisted…either way we are screwed, Snow."

The next instant, Rory burst through the bathroom door with his gun raised. I gasped slightly and jumped when he made his entrance; Gale only rolled his eyes.

"You should have been here five minutes ago, little brother." Gale said, looking at me but talking to Rory. Finally, the bodyguard turned and the younger Hawthorne lowered his gun.

Gale took another deep, calming breath before walking past his brother. "This won't happen again, do you understand me?"

Rory gave a rough 'yes sir' and Gale nodded before completely leaving my room. A few seconds later I heard his door slam shut across the hall. The younger brother raised an eyebrow to me. "I just walked in on…?"

I shook my head. "I'm not exactly sure…I think we are all going a little crazy, Rory."

"Surprise, surprise." He said unenthusiastically before turning around and leaving, as well.

I slide down against the counter until I was sitting on the bathroom floor, lost in my thoughts of what just happened.

This was madness, pure and utter madness.

Gale was right—we were screwed.

Our hearts were too far invested now and I didn't think there was any coming back from it now.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I really enjoyed writing it. I wrote it in about an hour and half…I was feeling super inspired by the music I was listening to and I think that helped a ton. Here's a list of a few of the songs that inspired this chapter if you are interested:**

**Bleeding Out- Imagine Dragons**

**Ain't No Sunshine- Josh Hoge**

**Drunk-Ed Sheeran **

**Coming To Terms- Carolina Liar**

**Can't Go Home- Go Old War**

**Anyway, thank you so much for reading and please leave a review!**


	7. Look What You Made Me

**Hello readers! I am beyond sorry for the long wait you have had for this chapter. Life, as always, gets in the way of my writing and I have very little time to accomplish anything. I hope you forgive me and are ready for the next chapter!**

**Okay, here we go!**

* * *

_Either I am really sick in the head or you are seriously dark and twisted…either way we are screwed, Snow. _

The words Gale hissed at me kept running over and over in my mind that night and I couldn't find any sleep. I tossed and turned in my outdated and uncomfortable bed, just trying to let it go but couldn't. I had to get up and do something.

So, I snuck out of my room, praying that Gale wouldn't hear me, and tiptoed down the hallway into the living room. I found a blanket draped over the couch and wrapped it around my shoulders before I went over to the window to stare down at the city that I was no longer a part of.

It was times like these that I missed my old life. Not necessarily the people in it or my extravagant lifestyle, but the freedom that came with being a Capitol citizen. I had always taken that for granted, never realizing what it meant to be completely oppressed like the people in the Districts and like I was now.

I was held captive. Not only by rebels who wanted to kill me but also by my emotions. Everyday I felt them controlling me more and more. I had always been more emotional than my friends and family but now it had gone too far.

Worry, doubt, sadness, happiness, fear, and love—they ran through me all the time and I didn't know what to do about it. I couldn't go into the arena like this or else I would lose for sure; there was no question about it. It wouldn't just be me who would loose my life then. I had to think about Lawson and Neva now too. This has gone beyond me.

There was only one thing for me to do then.

I had to resort back to my Capitol self, the one my mother, father and grandfather wanted me to be, not the one others like Gale and Finnick taught me to be. If I turned off the emotions then I could focus on staying alive instead of other things that would never happen…Gale already said it himself that there was no sort of future for us regardless of how we felt anyway so why sit around and sulk about it?

And maybe if I did become the self-absorbed monster that everyone expected me to be he'd learn to hate me; it would be so much easier if I knew he hated me. I could let him go that way.

Footsteps sounded behind me but I didn't turn around.

Of course he heard me get up and come out here; Gale Hawthorne knows my every move.

I expected him to say something, as he usually does, but instead he just comes to stand next to me. The both of us stood at the window and lookd down at the dark city that we were alienated from. It was silent for a while, just like I assumed the ground below to be, until Gale finally spoke and I winced at his words.

"I'm sorry about last night, Serena." He said my name so I knew it was sincere. "I was drunk, upset…" He trailed off and from the corner of my eye I could see his strong jaw clench at the same time he reached up to pull his hair in frustration. "God, why do I always feel like I am apologizing to you!?"

He stepped away from me and took a walk around the living room to calm down. My bodyguard is gone for a moment before he comes back to the window and grabs me by the shoulders so I have to look up at him. "Say something, please." His voice is pleading as well as his eyes.

I wanted to give in right there and tell him that everything was fine but I knew I couldn't do that. Talking my self into giving up my emotions just to let myself be controlled by them at the first test of weakness would not work.

So, when I looked at Gale in that instant I didn't see that man I was in love with his arms wrapped around me anymore. I instead pictured the man who grabbed me from my home the night my parents were killed.

I hated that man then and I hated him now.

I rolled my shoulders, forcing Gale to drop his hands from my arms, and I set him with a look I prayed looked strong and angry. "Stop apologizing, then."

Gale's face dropped. "What?"

I shrugged. "Stop apologizing. I'm just as sick of your groveling as you are." I paused to unwrap the blanket from my shoulder and hand it to him. He took it, still stunned. I then began to walk back towards the hallway. "Besides, why would I care about your apologizes anyway? You are just the hired help."

Leaving him with those last awful words, I turned and retired to my room, locking the door behind me. If I knew Gale, he would be right behind me banging on the-

"What the hell was that!?" I was pretty sure his fist was about to burst through the metal like some superhuman. He continued to pound on the door. "You better open up this damn door right now, princess!"

I sigh before going back and doing as he told me; there was no need to get shot again, after all. I opened the door just enough to look out. "What do you want?"

"You are joking." It was a statement not a question.

I crossed my arms around my torso and just stood there, waiting for what he was going to say next.

Gale raised an eyebrow. "You have to be joking me because if not then you just turned into a cold-hard bitch in the timespan of about five hours."

I bit down on my lower lip. "I'm tired, Gale, can I just-" I tried to close my door but he stopped it.

"No." He shook his head. "No, you are going to tell me what is going on with you, princess."

I sighed again, buying myself some time to think about what I was going to say to him because clearly he was not going to leave me alone until I gave him some answers. "Like I said, I'm tired. I'm tired of all of the pretending that I'm someone I'm not and pretending that you are someone you are not." I took a step towards him, inches from his body now. "You are a boy from an outlying District and I am the granddaughter of the President of Panem. We come from two different worlds and it's completely foolish to assume that the two of us could…"

"Could what?" He asked, getting angrier by the second.

My plan was working apparently. Actually, it was working almost too well.

I chuckled like it was all a big joke. "Let's face it, it was fun week with the fighting and the flirting. Truly, it was a fun run. But the fun's over, Gale, and I need to focus on more important things than your feelings and apologies like my life and the Games."

Gale stares at me for a moment then blinks several times like I had just slapped him in the face. He is stunned by what I had said and frankly, so was I. Even when I actually was a Capitol princess I never acted like this.

I didn't like this person but I had to become her.

My bodyguard gave me a once over like he too can't believe in the person I was becoming. Or, perhaps he could believe that this was the real me all the time and I had just been faking the Serena of the last week. I wasn't sure how well I would be able to take the latter.

The man in front of me ran his hands up and down his face before nodding. "So, it was all a game to keep your mind off the arena." He shook his head. "You expect me to buy that, princess? Because I don't. I don't believe it for one second." Gale ripped my door wide open then and took a step in so he loomed over me. "But if you want to pretend like this never happened then that is fine with me."

Gale spun away from me then and went back towards the hall. He paused in the doorway before turning back to look at me for a moment. "Who's the one playing games now, Serena?"

With those words, he stomped across the hall and slammed his door shut behind him. I closed my door quietly and I too was alone with my thoughts. The thoughts that drove me crazy beyond belief. Gale knew that I was lying and yet he was okay with that. We were both just going to play this ridiculous game where he is the hardhearted rebel and I am the weak, shallow Capitol prisoner.

I collapsed onto the bed and put my head into my hands, realizing that the games really never end.

* * *

Another day of training passed, just the same as any other, with Lawson, Neva, and I training in a group and Gale following us around in silence. Though I didn't have much to teach them in the way of survival skills I could teach them how to tie a knot and, in turn, they aided me in distinguishing the edible plants from the poisonous ones.

"It's a simple process, really." Neva explained before going into the details of something I actually thought to be very complicated but if they could do it then that was great; the more they could gather for us the better.

The training day ended and the three of us parted ways so I could go home to the penthouse where I would spend the night in silence.

I practiced my skills of making a fire up on the roof while Gale spent his evening completely ignoring me. Even though I knew he was there, I had never felt more alone.

Then I went to bed and the penthouse was silent.

I woke up the next morning and we repeated the entire process—ignoring each other and avoiding eye contact—all over again. But then it was time to go down to the training room and we had to be in the same elevator; there is only so much we could do to stay apart in there.

Gale stared at the button panel while I looked out the glass windows until the sunlight disappeared and we started to speed underground. Seconds later, the doors swooshed up to reveal what I knew was the training area. I turned around, expecting to see nothing out of the ordinary, but instead saw something so completely unexpected.

Three of the oldest boys, two of whom I knew the other of who was unfamiliar, were huddled around terrified-looking Lawson and Neva. The three larger boys were pushing and shoving them, even taunting them and laughing all the while. I wasn't sure what started this whole mess and to be honest I didn't give a damn.

Pushing my way past Gale, I ran over to the group and thrust myself into the thick of it all. "What is going on here?" I hissed at the three boys. Lawson took up the courage to stand next to me while Neva trembled behind us.

The eldest boy, Micah, was in my class at school and as he looked down at me now you would have thought that I was District scum and he was Serena Snow, Capital princess. "Well, well, well what do we have here, boys?" He laughed. "It's Serena Snow, friend to all and defender of little weaklings."

The boy next to Micah, Vin, I think I remember his name being, pushed Lawson then but the boy didn't back down. "Little weaklings, all right. This kid can't even pick up a triton and throw it."

"Like you three are doing much better." I spat at them.

"We can do better than you, Your Highness." Micah said. "People can wait for us to kill each other in the arena. But, you, you, they are fighting to try and kill themselves…that is quite an impressive display of hatred, don't you think?"

I saw out of the corner of my eye that Gale had made his way over to the little scene the three had caused and was now waiting to defuse the situation if the need arose.

But I wasn't going to need him because he wasn't going to be around for much longer.

So, I shrugged and rolled my eyes in the boys' direction. "Well, what can I say, Micah. I always was more popular in school that you were." I paused to laugh. "And you didn't handle it very well back then either."

My face hardened as I looked back at Neva and then over at Lawson. "Let's go, guys."

I was just about to turn around when I saw the third boy reach out to take Lawson by the shoulder. Just before his hand can make contact, I snatch it and grip his wrist tightly. My eyes glare up at him with burning hatred. "Next time your hands go out to touch one of them, you will pull back a stub, got it?"

He snickered before wrenching his hand from mine. "You've been hanging around that rebel scum for too long. You're nothing but a barbarian bitch now. Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

Vin laughed from behind him before looking behind my shoulder at Neva. "See you in the arena."

With those words Micah, Vin, and the last mouthy boy, whose name I never did catch, turned and went over to the weapons training area.

Lawson, Neva, and I watch them go a moment just to make sure they were really staying away before turning away ourselves to go over to the survival skills area. Once we were there, I stopped the two I set them with a concerned look. "You're okay." I tell them. I don't ask because I realize, and I hope that they do too, that they have to be okay; there are no other options for us in here than to seem strong and pulled together.

"We didn't do anything." Neva said, twisting one of her pigtails between her fingers. "We walked in and they just came up to us, starting whatever that was."

"They are just being jerks." I told them, looking from Neva to Lawson. "Don't worry about it now. It's over."

Lawson nodded firmly while Neva continued to twirl her hair for a second longer. The boy nudged her shoulder, causing the girl to jump slightly before putting her arms down at her sides before nodding, as well.

It is in that moment that I realized how strong my friends were growing. They were trying to fight past their little kid personas and become the warriors that they had to be to make it in the arena. I was proud of them for that.

"So, what would you guys like to start with today?" I asked the two before me.

Lawson and Neva gave each other a smile before turning back to look in my direction. "Camouflage."

I groaned and winced, realizing that they were doing this to tease me. I was never any good at art and now that I was in the Games that meant I was awful at camouflaging, something the two of them were incredible at. The last time I had seen someone as good as them was Peeta during the 74th Games; he was their muse and the person they wanted to emulate in order to stay alive.

Peeta never killed anyone and they never wanted to either. I couldn't blame them for that, really. I didn't want them to kill either. It's not something twelve year olds should have to do and I was glad that they would rather run and hide than fight; it meant that some of us still had a shred of humanity left within of us.

My eyes went over to Gale and saw that he couldn't meet my gaze. Instead, he was leaning against a wall, staying as far away from me as he possibly could. I just realized that during that entire altercation with Micah and his goons that Gale was nowhere to be found. He didn't come to my rescue like he had a few days ago. Gale wasn't going to fight for me anymore; he hated me too much.

Even though it stung my heart, that's what I wanted and that's what I needed.

I followed my young friends over to the camouflaging station and watched as the began to slather themselves with the different colored ingredients, all the while wondering if Gale and I would manage to make it through the rest of this week with our humanity in tact.

I didn't care so much about myself, since my death was likely to occur, but Gale? Was it possible that he would be torn apart by hate as much as he would have by love?

But, then again, who was I to think that I affected Gale Hawthorne that much? He was probably madder at me for getting the upper hand on him than anything else. If I continued to think that I had any control on what my bodyguard thought or felt than maybe I really would turn into that crazy, self-absorbed Serena I pretended to be…that I used to be.

As hard as I tried, I knew that the things people said about me weren't that far from the truth. I had done some of things and I had been the royalty that Micah and Gale accused me of being. I couldn't deny that.

So, who knew, maybe I wasn't as much of a changed woman as I thought myself to be. Maybe I was too absorbed in the Capital for most of my life to actually be a descent human being. I looked over at Lawson and Neva and was thankful that they got out of that life style so young because, if either of them won, there was still a chance for them to become something better than what we were raised to be.

The rest of the day I spent moving through a fog of realization that had clouded everything else in my mind. As we passed from specialty training to weapons I couldn't help but come to the understanding that my alter ego was nothing more than a return back to my former self and during lunch I thought about how Gale must think that he should have just let that bullet kill penetrate my skull last week, saving himself some pain and blood.

After that, we went back to weapons, where I was still distracted, and managed to get myself cut by one of Neva's spears and then we ended the day at the knot tying station.

Lucky for me, I could do this without really having to think about it. My hands absently made and unmade the intricate knots while my two friends tried helplessly to keep up with my fingers. It wasn't until they both stopped their attempt and simply stared at me that I realized I had been going way too fast for them. "Oh, sorry guys."

Lawson tilted his head to me. "You have been really out of it today. What's going on, Serena? Are you all right?"

I sighed and put my knotted up piece of rope down. "Yeah, everything is fine. I just have a lot on my mind."

Lawson exchanged a look with Neva. "Are you sure?" The girl asked.

Neva lifted an eyebrow at me, questioning, and I was about to tell her that I something was wrong when I noticed Gale standing closer by than he had been earlier in the day; I couldn't tell anything to the kids with him there. Instead, I just nodded. "Yeah, definitely."

Neva's eyebrow was still lifted and she looked like she was going to question me further—interesting, since I could barely get this girl to talk to me a week ago—but the bell the signaled the end of the day sounded and the guards yelled for us to drop our things and make our way quickly and quietly to the elevators.

The two looked back at the guards and then to me. "You two better get over there. You guys did a good job today. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow." They both said in unison before heading over to the elevator and getting in line to go up next. I stood there a moment to watch and make sure that Micah and his friends didn't give them a hard time-they didn't. Lawson and Neva got onto the elevator, disappearing a second later, and I felt able to relax.

As always, I waited my turn to go up to the penthouse last but today, for the first time, I waited alone. From the corner of my eye, I could see Gale leaning against the wall next to me, looking at some dirt under his fingernails like that would give him an excuse not to interact with me. That's fine, I could make myself look busy, as well. Again, I began to tie and undo knots that I knew by heart.

Standing there, tying knots, I thought back to Finnick and a time that we were at a party and decided to get away for a while. So we went onto the roof deck of my grandfather's mansion, sneaked a bottle of champagne and had gone through half of it by this time and were now looking down at the people strolling through the square below us.

Finnick was walking along the edge of the roof like it was a tightrope with a glass in one hand and a cigarette in the other. I just sat in a chair and watched the crazy dare devil and prayed that my cheeks wouldn't be flushed when we went back down to the party; my mother would throw a complete fit if she saw me looking dazed after returning with a boy.

"Care to join me, doll?" He asked, spinning around to start the line again.

I laughed. "No, I'm good here. Falling to my death isn't exactly on my list of things to do tonight, thanks."

He shrugged. "Suit yourself." The next moment he finished off his drink and jumped down to get a refill. He poured another big glass and leaned against the stone wall, looking down. He snorted. "Jeez, look at them."

I got up and went over to stand next to him. I looked down too and saw people coming into and leaving my grandfather's party, dressed elegantly and extravagantly in their evening wear, laughing and stumbling.

"What about them?" I questioned, not really noticing anything strange about the scene.

"They're pathetic. Not a care in the world more than how much weight they put on tonight and how much they will have to purge tomorrow to get it off. There are people who have real problems in this world and they don't even care." He hissed.

My face fell slightly. "I'm one of them…I'm from the Capitol too."

Finnick smiled over at me and shook his head. "No, you're different."

"What makes you say that?" I asked shyly.

Finnick bumped into my shoulder playfully. "Because you're my girl! I know you, Serena. I've watch you with the others and you have more of a heart than any of them."

I chuckled and I knew then that I began to blush. "And why is that?"

"Well, for starters you have me to show you that path of righteousness." He says pointing to himself and posing like he is God's gift to man…well, with his looks he kind of was. I laughed again and then he leaned back against the wall. "But really, I think it's because you are so close to all of it. You know what your grandfather does and that it's not right…you are a good person with morals and a conscience…you are more than them." He flicked my chin. "Don't let anyone tell you differently, doll."

I was fifteen when Finnick told me that. I couldn't believe that I forgot it until today.

After what seemed like an eternity, it was finally our turn to go up the penthouse. I walked over to the elevator, continuing with the knots, and Gale followed behind me. The bodyguard slipped in just before the doors were about to close and stared at them the entire ride up; I, on the other hand, continued to tie.

Another eternity passed until the doors opened again and Gale burst out, desperate to get away from me. He took his jacket off and threw it on the couch before loosening his tie and rolling up his sleeves and then headed into the kitchen to fix his dinner.

"I'm going to bed." I told him as I started down the hallway.

"You can't go to bed without eating anything." He explained in a monotone voice.

I scoffed. "I'm sorry, I don't remember asking your permission." I was about to open my door when I felt Gale grab me and pick me up, throwing me over his shoulder in the process, as he carried me back down the hallway. "Just what do you think you are doing!? Are you crazy? Put me down!" I demanded as I hit his back. At that moment, I was actually quite terrified at what he was planning to do to me. Scary and angry Gale was unpredictable and I didn't know how to handle him.

Seconds later, my bodyguard set me down at the kitchen table and towered over me with a crazed glare in his gray eyes. "Listen here, princess, if it were up to me I'd let you go ahead and starve yourself. I couldn't give less of a damn at this point but my job is to keep you alive long enough to get you in that arena and I can't do that if you keep skipping meals. So, you will sit here and eat and live long enough to die, do you understand me?"

I pursed my lips tightly, not answering. Sure, Gale might have been scary and angry but he would not intimate the Capitol Serena Snow; he was a rebel from the District's, an inferior, nothing more.

The man stared at me a moment longer before spinning around to the stove where he began to heat up some soup. A couple minutes passed until it was ready; he then split the soup into two bowls. Gale set one in front of me and then sat down in the chair next to mine so he could also eat.

I sat there, staring at the soup and him, but not doing anything while he ate. He was almost halfway done with his bowl before he spoke again. "So help me, Serena, I will shove it down your throat if you don't eat it yourself."

Gale looked up at me and set me with a gaze that told me he wasn't joking. The next instant I took up my spoon and slowly took small sips of it. Gale turned his eyes away from me and a grin appeared on his face like he won a small victory.

I ate my soup a little slower then.

This was practically torture.

Gale finished his soup and went over to the sink to wash his dishes. He put them away and then turned around, leaning against the corner, crossed his arms and stared down at me. Like Neva had earlier, I raised an eyebrow.

"Are you seriously going to stand there and watch me eat a bowl of soup?" I questioned.

The man looked away from me, chuckled, and shook his head. "No. No, I'm not."

The next instant he stomped over to the table, covering the distance in a flash, and swatted the bowl across the way and onto the floor. I watched in amazement as the china shattered on the floor and as the liquid scattered on the marble, similarly to the occurrence in my bathroom a few nights before.

Gale drew my attention back to him by pushing the table away from me, causing a loud scratching sound to fill the otherwise quiet room. It skidded across the floor a few feet and he took its place before me, leaning down to look into my eyes and putting his hands on either side of my chair back. Instinctively, I tried to get up but he pushed me back down. My next move was to knee him in the groin but one of his hands went down to stop my leg.

He tilted his head to me. "Stop fighting me."

"Stop attacking me." I shot back.

"Stop pretending that you changed into someone you aren't." He snapped back at me.

I froze then, my face falling from its hard and cold shell into one of shock. My mouth opens and closes several times before I can speak. "I'm not pretending anything. You are being ridiculous. Let me go." I tried to get up but he held me down firmly.

"Like hell I will. I was so angry with you the last couple days that I didn't actually considered the fact that you were lying but then I saw you with Lawson, Neva and those stupid jerks that were attacking them and saw that it was you…the real Serena was back for a few minutes. That bitch you have been pretending to be wouldn't care about those kids getting beat up."

I shrugged. "They are my allies, Gale. I need them alive and in good health if I'm going to sacrifice them to the others in the arena." Whoa, that last lie came out way too easily. The words burnt my throat as they came out. "Like you said, they are slower and weaker. The others will get them first."

Gale snorted. "Don't bullshit me, princess. You love those kids like they were your kid siblings. You wouldn't dream of letting the others get to them before going through you."

It was my turn to tilt my head. The next words came out as a whisper.

"You don't know me, Gale Hawthorne." My heart ached with every word I uttered to him. Why couldn't he just let this all go and hate me already?

My bodyguard's face fell and his gray eyes darkened. He lowered his head a moment but didn't move. It was almost too much to bear seeing him like this, knowing that it was because of me. He had been right that night when he said we were screwed. I knew it then and I knew it now.

His eyes returned to me the next second, a little harder than they had been before. The next thing I knew, he took me by the shoulders and stood me up, holding me close so I was forced to look up at him.

Gale looked like he was about to yell at me again when his face softened yet again. "I know you, Serena Snow." He whispered, nodding. "I know you are up to something. Maybe trying to protect yourself or me from getting hurt, I'm not sure. But you need to understand something…"He took a deep breath and lowered his arms. "…We have four days. That's its. Four days together and then you have to go. I don't want to waste them like this." The man dropped his hands and sighed. "I can't make these feeling for you go away, Serena, no matter how much I tried."

"I don't want to hurt you—"

"Then don't, Serena." Gale said. "Don't lie to me. There have been way too many people who have in my life and I don't need another one."

I looked down and bit at the side of my lip. "You lied to me. Why shouldn't I return the favor?" I explained in the most Capitol-snob voice I could muster. My mind began to think back on how Gale had lied about talking to the Game Makers and about not having feelings for me.

I felt his hand go under my chin and I looked back up at me, his eyes soft this time. "Because you are a better person than me." He paused to drop his hand from my chin, it slide down to wrap around my own fingers. "I'm sorry, princess."

I walked out of his arms and went into the living room to look out of the large windows. I crossed my arms tightly across my chest as I felt a chill run over me but I knew it wasn't cold in the room.

Gale's reflection came up behind me in the window and he stood there silently. "Will you look at me?"

"No." I told him.

"Why not?" He asked softly, placing his hand gently on my back almost like he wanted to comfort me.

"Because looking at you, being with you, makes me weak and I can't be weak." I turned around but looked at his feet. "I make you weaker, too. You can't deny that."

"No, I can't." He said, the surprise of his words brought my eyes up to look at him for a second. I nodded, knowing I had proven my point, before brushing past him. I had only made it several feet before he grabbed my wrist and spun me back so I was in his arms once more. "I love you and I hate you…I can't think straight when I am around you. I'm not trusted by the other guards anymore because of my attachment to you, and you know what? I don't think I care. You are my biggest mistake, Serena Snow, and I love you."

His lips crashed down on mine and I returned the kiss with fever. I wrapped my arms around his neck, allowing my hands to knot themselves in his hair and his hands pressed into my back so I was forced closer to him. We stayed this way for a while, embracing each other physically and emotionally.

As much as I would have loved to deny it, our hearts were invested in this, whatever this was. I loved Gale and he loved me. That was the fact of the matter.

I broke the kiss after a moment, taking a deep breath. I looked up at him and ran a hand down his cheek, still slightly dazed and confused.

"Are we really doing this?"

Gale smiled and gave me one more quick kiss. "You and me, princess, till the end."

I smiled too before burying my head back into his chest, wanting to relish in the moment and not think about the fact that the end came sooner that either of us wanted to aware of.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed it and please tell me what you think! Thank you so much for reading!**


	8. Taking Over Me

**Hey guys! I am there are not enough so's to put in front of sorry to tell you how sorry I am for this long wait. Because of school and work writing has been quite low on my list of things to get done. But finally here is a new chapter for you guys. I hope you enjoy it! **

**Here we go!**

* * *

"Come on, pick up the pace!" Gale shouted over his shoulder as he ran ahead of me of the roof.

We had been going back and forth for about half an hour now, touching every crack in the concrete as we went before return back to the wall, and I was completely exhausted. Even when I used to run, it was a long distance at my own pace, not these sprints.

"I'm going as fast as I can." I manage to say between puffing breaths.

"It's not fast enough, princess, if you want to out run the others." Gale said as he turned around and started back towards the other side of the building. I touched the building's edge and then turned around, chasing after him.

"Well you are a foot taller than me so you obviously you are going to be a lot faster. It's scientific fact." I threw back at him, starting to get cranky now.

Just then, Gale screeched to a halt in front of me and I skidded to a stop too in order to avoid running in to him. I looked up at my bodyguard like he had lost it, questioning if he really had, and saw him shaking his head at me disapprovingly.

"Don't make excuses for yourself. You got me? You are better than that." He pointed a finger in my face, finished scolding me.

"No, I'm not. I'm Capitol scum. I'm not better than anyone, remember?" I teased him, crossing me arms across my chest. It was rising up and down quickly and I was reminded how exhausted and out of shape I am.

I hated that I was both of those things.

Gale grabbed me by the waist and pulled me against him, then. He looked down at me so seriously. "Hey, now. Don't be like that, princess." Gale kissed my forehead. "I just cannot send you into those games without knowing that you are ready." He kissed my left temple and then my right before looking into my eyes a moment. "You will try for me, won't you?"

I tried to stay mad but when he was looking at me like that with his big gray eyes there was no way I could. So, I smiled slightly and nodded. "Yes, I will try."

"There's my girl." My bodyguard encouraged before giving me a quick kiss on the lips. "I think that's enough running for tonight, though. Come on."

Gale draped an arm around my shoulders and we walked the rest of the way back to the door, going back down to the penthouse.

You would think I would be grateful for Gale helping me out with extra training after hours and truly, I am. But since last night when we decided that we were going to be together until I went into the games he has done nothing but talk about training and getting me into better shape, whatever needs to be done in order for me to come out of this thing alive. It's almost like he wouldn't admit that I didn't have a chance of winning this thing.

Gale was going to do everything in his power, even if that means running us both into the ground, to ensure that I would win the Hunger Games but we both knew it was impossible. But, despite this knowledge, he was going to keep training me until the very second I went into that arena.

The two of us walked into the kitchen and got a glass of water. I drank my greedily before reaching for a second; Gale grabbed the glass out of my hand and put it in the sink.

"Gale—"

"Water is going to be scarce in the arena. You might as well get used to feeling thirsty now." He paused, raising an eyebrow. "What is the first thing to do after the games get rolling?"

"Find water." I told him, repeating what he has told me several times that contradicts what some of other tributes will be trying to do, which is finding a hiding place.

He nodded. "Good." My bodyguard polished off the remainder of his water and then turned back to me. "Okay, time for a little strength training."

The man headed into the living room then and started moving around the coffee table and couch to make more room and I couldn't help but sigh, worried and disappointed. I looked behind me at the clock in the kitchen to see that it was an hour to midnight and I had been training for close to fifteen hours that day.

If we did any more, I don't think I would be able to get up the next morning to do it all over again.

I went into the living room where Gale was now on the floor on his hands and knees, ready to do what I assumed to be push ups.

"Gale—"

"Come on down here and get ready." He said, motioning me down to him.

"Honey, no more tonight." I told him.

The man looked up at me with a furrowed brow. "But, you need to—"

"What I need for you to do is come sit with me for a while, okay?" I told him, holding my hand out for him to take. Gale looked at it for a moment, considering what I asked him. Finally, he sighed. "All right, we will do it tomorrow morning before we go down to the training room."

"Whatever you say." I reassured him.

The man took my hand then and stood up before we both went over to the couch. He sat down first and then I laid down next to him, leaning against his chest and draping an arm around his torso. Gale wrapped his arm around me again and began to play with my hair. We stayed like this for a several moments, not doing much of anything, before Gale started to get restless.

"Serena?" He whispered into my hair.

"Hmm?" I said, feeling my eyelids grow heavy.

"I love you."

I tilted my head up and smiled at him. "I love you, too."

Gale didn't smile back. "And it is because I love you that I am pushing you so hard to—"

"Shh," I told him, bringing my finger up to cover his lips. "Don't worry about it tonight."

Gale shook his head. "Tonight is practically all the time left we have _to _worry about it."

I shook my head. "We have three days. Three whole days to be together, just be together, and not worry. I thought we discussed this."

"We did—"

"Then shut up." I finally told him, pleading. I couldn't take it if we went on anymore about our short time together being almost over.

Yes, tomorrow our three days would be two and then there would be one and then done. I realized this; I'm not completely oblivious to what was happening around me. How could I be? But last night we had decided that we were not going to dwell on the inevitable…well, at least I thought we had.

Looking at Gale now, I knew that was not the case. He wasn't going to let this go, let me go, not without a fight.

I sighed as settled back down against his chest. "Don't worry about things that are out of our control, Gale…it'll just ruin everything."

The man took a deep breath and planted a kiss on top of my head; but, he didn't say anything. He was mad, I understood that and accepted it because it was something about my bodyguard I knew I could not change it.

Gale hated things that were out of his control, fought them most of the time, and right now he was fighting between his urge to fight this and do what I asked him to. His inner battle would wear on, that much I could tell, but for now he relaxed and wrapped his arm tighter around my shoulder.

For now he was my Gale but tomorrow he would go back to being my bodyguard.

Like everything else, I would just have to enjoy it while it lasted.

* * *

"Hey, time to get up." Gale roused me from my sleep, pushing my hair back from my face. He kissed my forehead gently

I rubbed my nose as my eyes began to flutter open to see Gale's face before mine. A slight smile began to grow on my face at the sight of him.

Until the thought of what today was came rushing into the front of my thoughts and then the smile faded.

Two days until I was sent into the arena, two days left with Gale, and the last day of training. The thought scared me but I wasn't going to say anything to him and make his worrying increase tenfold. Towards the end of the evening last night, my bodyguard finally began to relax and I wanted him to stay that way for as long as I could.

"Good morning." I greeted him.

"How'd you sleep?" He asked.

"Fine. And you?" I questioned back, but he didn't answer. He got up from the bed and instantly fell to the floor, starting in on his morning routine of push-ups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks.

I sat up and looked down at him as he concentrated on bending his arms at a perfect 90-degree angle. Gale was moving so quickly through the motions and I wondered if would ever be strong enough to do something like that so effortlessly. "You didn't sleep." I realized then. As I watched longer, what I thought to be a burst of morning energy was actually tension, a little bit too much anxiety wrapped up in him too tightly.

Gale sighed and stopped his push-ups before propping his elbows on the mattress and taking my chin in his hands. "How could I with the likes of you lying next to me, pet?"

He kissed me, trying to change the subject but it wasn't going to work. I could see the dark circles under his eyes and understood the effect that it would have on him today.

I set him with a stern look. "Gale, you can't be doing that. You have to get your rest."

He pursed his lips together and tilted his head to me. "Don't worry about me. Concentrate on your last day of training today. Keep your mind focused on that."

_Last day of training_, I repeated in my head. One more day in that basement and then a day of interviews and then the twenty-four of us are going to be stuffed into a tube before being thrown into an arena to fight to the death.

"Easier said than done." I told him with a small smile.

Gale presses his forehead against mine. "Well try." The man stood up then and started heading for the door, making towards his room. "You gotta make the most of this day, princess, no one else can do it for you, not even me."

He disappeared into the hallway and I felt an overwhelming sense of confusion take over me. Something happened to Gale during his sleepless night next to me. The man wasn't anxious about what was to come; he seemed calm, almost too calm.

This was Gale though, always running hot and cold, hard and soft. I never knew what I was going to get with him. The past two days he had been riding me so hard with training that he had barely talked about anything else and then this morning he just told me to get up and focus with no tips whatsoever?

It didn't add up.

Then again, things in this crazy world rarely did.

I sighed before throwing the covers off and getting up to ready myself for the second to last day of sanity before the pure madness.

* * *

Down in the training room several hours later, Lawson, Neva, and I sat in a circle looking at several different plant types before us. Lawson picked up one with red flowers and studied it with a raised eyebrow. Neva and I stared at it too as we tried to figure out if it was edible or not.

"I'm going to say that this is edible." He determined.

Our eyes all fly to Gale who was standing several feet away, leaning against the wall, his usual cup of coffee in one hand and his foot kicked up against the wall. The man rolled his eyes and sighed before shaking his head. "You'' be puking within an hour if you eat that, it's called Phoenix Feather."

"Oh, I've heard of that!" Neva said, excited. "I read about it last week during one of the session."

I smiled at her but knew that reading about these plants wasn't going to help us in the arena. We had to be able to identify them on the spot.

"There has to be some kind of easy way to tell if they are poisonous or not on the spot, right?" I looked back at Gale.

He thought for a moment then shook his head. "I can't teach you this stuff in one afternoon, Serena. It's something I've been doing my entire life with hunting. You learn because someone with time teaches you."

"So teach us." I told him.

My bodyguard kicked his foot off the wall and came over to our circle. "I think there are more important things to worry about right now than this."

"More important than eating? What's more important than that?" I asked.

"Surviving." He shot back, glaring down at me.

"Okay, so I'll say it again—teach us."

He rubbed his face before coming down to my level. Gale gave me a stern glare. "Don't worry about this plant bullshit. You three need to work on weapons training. The only good defense is a good offense." He paused and lowered his voice so only I could hear. "You are going to have to kill people, Serena. It's a fact of the games."

I looked away from him and towards the kids. Imagining these two wielding a weapon and actually using it to take another person's life seemed nearly impossible. Asking them to do it instead of running and trying to out last everyone else like we had planned seemed almost cruel of me to do; they were just kids, sheltered Capitol kids.

"You are going to have to go into the Cornucopia." Gale told us.

My head jerked back to him and my eyes grew wide. "What? Are you insane? I thought we were going to—"

"Run?" My bodyguard nodded. "That's what a lot of them are going to do for one of two reasons. Either they aren't going to be ready to die yet or they saw how well it worked out for Katniss and Peeta and they are hoping they will fare just as well." The man looked over at Lawson and Neva. "There will be very few people fighting for the supplies. You guys are fast and if you can't get to the weapons you can fight your way out."

"Not if those guys from the other day are there. We couldn't take them." Lawson explained truthfully but timidly.

"You might not be able to kill them but you could get away from them, wound them to the point that they will die on their own." Gale said. "Neva's got an arm on her—she really knows how to throw a spear—and Lawson, I'm sure you could handle your own with a sword if you put some muscle behind it. Plus this one," He nodded in my direction, "She can throw a knife when forced so with the three of you working together I really think you can do it."

My friends looked at each other like they weren't very sure about the plan. Lawson most of all seemed spooked by the entire situation. I tilted my head, studying him, and placed a hand on his knee. "It's a lot, Lawson, especially for us, but Gale is right; we have to do these things if we want to live."

Lawson nodded, still uncertain. My eyes turned to Neva then and saw the doubt that filled her eyes too; that was when I knew. She would not be able to do this unless she knew Lawson could. They went everywhere together, did everything together. Neva followed where Lawson lead and since he didn't think he could do this she didn't either.

I think Gale came to the same conclusion I did because the next thing I know, Gale knelt in front of Lawson and looked him straight in the eye like he did to me sometimes when he was very serious about something. "You have any siblings, Lawson?"

He nodded. "A younger sister. She's nine."

Gale returned the nod. "I've got some kid siblings too, three of them, and I'd do anything to protect them. Wouldn't you do everything in your power to keep your sister safe from harm?"

Lawson tilted his head, questioning, but nodded all the same. "Sure, of course, I would."

"Okay," Gale started before looking away from the boy and towards Neva and I, "now you just got yourself two sisters in the games. Are you going to protect them?"

Lawson looked at us as if something inside him had clicked and instead of seeing our faces he saw his little sister's instead. He didn't appear that small to me in that moment—he seemed more like a young man than a boy.

"Yes, I will." Lawson said without a tremor in his voice.

"We'll look after you, too, Lawson." Neva told him.

"You can bet on that." I said. "We'll all be there for each other. That's what we have that the others don't—friends who look out for one another."

"Right," Gale affirmed, "now that that is settled you are going to need something else that some of the others _do _have and that is talent with the weapons. So head over there now and practice."

Lawson and Neva shot up from their seats and ran over to the weapons area. Neva grabbed her usual spears whereas Lawson opted for a sword. Each took a target and began swinging and throwing as if their lives, like all of ours, depended on it.

I stood up and looked over at Gale. "You sure have a way of making people do what they don't want to, am I right?"

Gale's eyes scanned the room to make sure that no one was looking our way before replying. "And what exactly is that suppose to mean?"

I shook my head. "Nothing, it's just…" I looked down at my hands, now callused from weeks of training. I didn't recognize them to be honest.

"Don't pull that Capitol stuff on me. If you have something to say then say it, princess." He said, before brushing a finger down my wrist. I looked up at him then. " Talk to me."

"Fine, I'm mad at you." I told him. "I hate that you said those things to them. You can go as hard on me as you want about training but they are children and they are scared to death. And now they have to worry about killing people because you say so…"

"Oh, they only have to worry about it now because _I _say so? You really think you were going to be able to go through-" He took a deep breath and looked over my shoulder. I took a look too and saw another guard giving as a confused glance. "This isn't the time to do this. People are looking… But let's face it, princess, the odds aren't in your favor or theirs…you have no choice but to fight if you are going to live."

I walked away from him and towards my small friends. They smiled as I came closer to them. Neva held a spear in her hand—it was almost as tall as her. Lawson was still wearing that same courageous, hard look on his young face that Gale had put there. Looking at them, they didn't seem to me to be warriors. They were just kids playing dress up with weapons like we all were at one time or another during our childhood in the Capitol.

But I knew better that to just look at the surface.

There was so much more to people than that. Finnick taught me that. It was something that we struggled with in the Capitol. Rarely did we look beyond the exterior. Perhaps this would be what made Lawson, Neva, and I strong—our ability to see people for who they truly were.

My eyes locked on tiny Neva—small and quiet—who had one of the kindest and gentlest hearts I have ever encountered, especially from someone from our society. Then there was Lawson, the boy who was putting on a brave face and trying his best to be the warrior that was required of him despite the fact that he was terrified and trying to hide it.

Slowly I scanned the room and our competition taking them all in first for the face value and then for what I suspected resided within them. I looked into most of their eyes and saw fear, just the same as I felt.

But there was an exception. Micah looked back at me not with fear in his eyes but an insane kind of hate and anger. He was going into the games with a thirst for blood, our blood.

Yes, some were scared for our lives, others didn't understand why this was happening to them, and still there were the select few of us, like Micah and myself, who were planning on giving it our all in order to make it to the end. The only difference between us was that he didn't care who died along his way to victory and I did.

That would be my downfall.

I just prayed that it wouldn't come down to the three of us in the end.

Lawson came over to me, handing me one of the knives, and smiled. "You've got to practice." He said. "The bodyguard won't like it if you are just standing around."

I smiled back at him. "I'll be honest, he doesn't like a lot of things that I do." I took the knife from his hand and ran my hand along the blade. Neva saw the two of us standing together and, as always, wanted to be included in our little conversation.

"We are going to be all right. I don't know how but we are going to be all right by the end of this." I paused to look up at them and nod confidently. "You'll see, okay?"

"I believe you." Lawson said.

"Me too." Neva piped in.

"Good," I responded.

Behind me I heard the whistle blow, signaling the end of the last training day. Everyone automatically started toward the elevator but my two allies and I stayed together in a little triangle, just quiet, to spend one more minute together as friends.

Finally, Gale had to come over and tell us that Neva and Lawson had to go to the elevator now and go up to their rooms. The pair nodded before silently starting to walk away. But, just when they had made it several feet, Neva paused before turning around and coming back to wrap her arms around my waist in a hug.

I hesitated for a moment, feeling strange to have someone other than Gale put their arms around me, especially some one from the Capitol, but eventually I returned her embrace. The girl finally let go and looked up at me slightly. "I've never felt the need to hug anyone before," she said quickly before running back over to Lawson who waved slightly once more.

They both stepped into the awaiting elevator and disappeared behind the sliding metal doors a second later.

I was the last one left besides Gale and the rest of the rebel regulators.

I went to wait by the doors, Gale followed close behind me, but we both knew it would still be a couple minutes until the elevator was back to pick us up.

"Hawthorne," I turned to see a guard I didn't recognize…to be honest in their black suit, all the regulators started to look the same after I while. I wondered if that was what we looked like to people of the Districts with our clothes, make up, and wigs. But now that I was paying attention, I saw that this one was shorter than Gale though, with black hair and eyes to match; he looked to be in his mid-to-late twenties if I had to make a guess.

"Mavrick, how've you been?" Gale asked, grabbing the other guy's hand firmly and shaking it.

"Not too bad. I'll be better when we're rid of these rich kids though." The man laughed, shooting me a look that made me avert my gaze. Though he didn't look as cruel as the last regulator I encountered by his statement I could tell he wasn't sympathetic to what was happening here.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Gale returned with the same exhausted tone.

From the corner of my eye I could see Mavrick lean in close to Gale, whispering something into his ear. "So just between us, what's it like to be shacked up with Serena Snow?" The rebel's words were just loud enough for me to hear. "I've heard some pretty nasty rumors running around about what goes on between the two of you up there and I just gotta know if they are true."

My gaze shot up then and I looked over at the men. Gale kept his cool the entire time, however. He tilted his head to Mavrick and set him with a stern glare. "What exactly is it that you hear?"

Mavrick shrugged, grinning the entire time. "Oh, you know," he took a step closer to me so that I could not feel his hot breath on my cheek. "Just that you get paid _very_ well for your services."

I jumped back from Mavrick then, running into Gale who was there in an instant.

The doors to the elevator opened with a ding and Gale ushered me inside. The man turned back to the other regulator, towering over him, and glaring down. "I don't know who you got your information from but it'd be best for both of you to keep your mouths shut before I make you keep them shut, understand?"

The other man laughed, his black his bright with power. "You think I'm scared of you, Hawthorne? That might work on the new guys but it won't work on me. You don't pull rank over me, kid. Remember that next time you threaten me."

Gale continued to stare down at him for a second more before turning back around and walking toward the elevator.

"I'd watch myself if I were you, Hawthorne." Mavrick called as Gale reached the elevator and pushed the button to take us up to the penthouse. "If word got out about this you'd be done for!"

The doors slammed shut and we were alone.

It was only once the elevator car began shooting upwards that Gale turned to look at me. The man shook his head for a moment before feeling the need to connect his fist with the wall of the elevator.

I jumped at the sound of flesh connecting with metal.

"Who-" I collected myself and tried again. "Who was that man?"

"His name is Shaw Mavrick." Gale answered just as the doors slid open and allowed us into the penthouse apartment. "We served in Thirteen together." The man looked back at me. "He's a prick."

Gale stripped his jacket off and threw it over the nearest armchair before starting to pace the length of the living room. I stayed quiet for a moment, allowing him time to think but, to be honest, I wasn't exactly sure what he was thinking about.

"Could he do those things that he said? Can he really get you in trouble?"

Gale snorted. "Yeah, like he's got that kind of authority." His voice made it seem like he wasn't scared but his eyes deceived him.

The next moment I heard the elevator doors open up behind me and I felt my heart instantly drop. Gale's eyes widened at the same time as I spun to see that it wasn't a gang of rebel regulators come to kill the both of us but only Rory. A sigh of relief left my lungs at the sight of the boy; he, on the other hand, didn't look at all happy to see us.

"Hey, I saw what happened downstairs. What the hell is going on with Mavrick?"

Gale shot me a glance then returned his gaze to his brother. "What do you know?"

Rory shrugged. "No much. The guys are just downstairs running their mouths like they always do about—" He stopped short and looked my way, blushing.

I felt a blush rise up in my own checks at the idea that men were outright talking about me. Sure, gossip happened all the time in the Capitol but we never talked about someone directly to their face.

"Sorry." Rory murmured in my direction.

"Rory," Gale rushed over to his brother and grabbed on to his shoulders firmly. "Focus, did they threaten Serena or me? Say anything about turning us in?"

Rory wrinkled his forehead in confuse. "No, of course not. Turn the two of you in? Why would they do…" The boy's eyes flinted from me then back to his brother. "Oh…"

"Listen to me, Rory, you can't say anything. Do you understand what will happen if you do?"

I saw how tightly Gale's grasp on his brother's arms was getting and I knew I had to intervene then. Stepping forward, I lifted my hand up and covered my bodyguard's hand with my own. "Let him go." I said as gently as I could, forcing my voice not to shake.

I wrapped my hand around his and slowly pulled it down, off of Rory. He didn't let go right away like I thought he would. In fact, he grasped onto me quite tightly. My eyes went down to our connected hands and then over to the confused regulator staring at the pair of us.

Rory tilted his head as he tried to figure out what had happened and how he had missed it. The three of us were quiet for a moment while he processed this new revelation. Finally, the boy nodded. "I knew it."

I was completely taken aback. "I-what?" I paused, dropping Gale's hand. "How?"

Rory shrugged. "I know my brother. He wouldn't let anyone get under his skin the way you do unless he truly cared about them."

I looked over at Gale and he looked down at me with smiling eyes. I tilted my head at him, questioning if this was true. The man just wrinkled his nose at me, reassuring that it was true.

"It's okay with me, you know." Rory said.

"It is?" I questioned.

"Sure."

"And how is that exactly?" It was Gale's turn ask his little brother cautiously.

"Does there have to be a reason?" Rory retorted. "I just am. Why should I care who you're in love with?"

"Everyone else cares though…don't they?" I speak up, thinking about the short man who had given me the chills several minutes earlier. "Mavrick is going to do something about us."

"Hey, look at me." Gale took my face in his hands and forced my eyes up to his. "You are safe when you are with me. Those men down there won't touch you."

"And what about you? Are they going to touch you?"

He didn't hesitant before answering. "No, they won't. I promise." The man took a deep breath. "I'm going to go get us some drinks…I think we all could use one."

Gale turned around, clearly done with the conversation and headed to the kitchen, rattling around with the glasses and bottles. I went over to Rory and we both watched his brother for a moment, acting as if nothing is happening.

"He's lying, isn't he? Something is going to happen before I go into the arena."

I heard Rory sigh next to me. "Yeah, something is going to happen. I'm not sure what it is but it's not going to be good."

"So what can we do?"

"Honestly, Serena?" Rory gave me a sympathetic glance. "You can't do anything."

* * *

**I hope you guys enjoyed it! Please tell me what you thought if you feel inspired to! Hopefully the wait for the next chapter won't be so long. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	9. Catastrophe and the Cue

**Hey guys! I am there are not enough so's to put in front of sorry to tell you how sorry I am for this long wait. Because of school and work (and let's be honest Netflix and Pinterest have been a distraction too!) writing has been quite low on my list of things to get done. But finally here is a new chapter for you guys. I hope you enjoy it! **

**Here we go!**

* * *

I woke up early the next morning to get ready for the interviews despite the fact that Gale, Rory, and I had been up practically until the sun rose, waiting for…well, I'm not exactly sure what we were waiting for. The three of us were positive something would occur due to my and Gale's inappropriate relationship. Either the rebel police were going to barge in here and kill us or riots would be forming in the streets because of their hero fraternizing with the enemy; however, nothing happened.

It was the strangest feeling, expecting death and destruction to come but never having it appear.

But I couldn't dwell on that now because I had a much bigger problem to worry about—I had to make myself look desirable, loveable, to the people of Panem. The interviews were starting at two, leaving me only six hours to mentally and physically prepare myself. I didn't think it could be done, honestly. In the old days, we would prepare for parties all day, not being completely ready for one until well into the night. Plus I always had help from a couple of Avoxes. But now I was by myself and didn't really know where to start.

I suppose a shower was the most logical place.

I did that quickly—it's not like I had the exfoliants or hair products that I had before the fall of the Capitol—and then wrapped myself in a robe that has been always been provided for tributes in their bathrooms. Now that I thought about it, the last person who probably wore this robe was Katniss Everdeen since she was the last tribute to girl to be in the penthouse suite…I wasn't sure if I should be comforted by the fact or intimidated by it.

Walking from the bathroom, I went straight to the closet to see what kind of clothes I had to work with today; once I knew what I was wearing, I would be able to decide on my hair. I stood there for a moment and saw that I did not have much of anything besides my training uniform and the black dress that I wore to the Reaping. There was also some of my other things like my pajamas and a couple of my skirts and tops but nothing that would be extravagant enough for interviews. It was understandable that the rebels wanted to get away from our obsession with looks but I thought they still hedld some importance. The way I looked, the way I presented myself, would determine how far I made it with the people watching today.

But I already knew that today was going to be a disaster. Something awful was going to happen. I could already tell and it was only seven in the morning.

In that moment, I heard a light knock sound on the door before Gale peeked his head in the door. The man smiled before coming over and placing a kiss on the side of my head. "What are you looking at? Clothes for today?"

"More like my lack of clothing. I have absolutely nothing." I pinched the bridge of my nose before going over to sit on the edge of the bed, defeated by the empty closet.

"Oh, come on now. What are you talking about? There are clothes in here."

I tilted my head at him. "Are we looking at the same closet?"

Gale waved me off before rummaging through my few possessions. He finally pulled out a puffy sleeved blouse that came in a deep shade of emerald green. The man shook it and then began to study it like it was the first time he actually saw anything like it. "What about…this?"

"It's too casual."

"Okay, and this…?" Next, he pulled out my plated mustard skirt and matching leggings.

"It's too casual. It's all too causal. Nothing I have is right for the interviews. I need something that says…that says…"

"That says what exactly?" Gale questioned as he put the skirt back and went rummaging through the closet again.

"I'm not sure…that says I'm worth saving maybe."

Gale paused for a moment, turning back to look at me. He threw the clothes on the bed before coming to kneel in front of me. "You are worth saving."

I snorted in the most unladylike way. "According to who?"

"Me."

I pursed my lips and looked away from him. A second later Gale captured my chin and forced me to look back down at him.

"It wasn't your clothes that convinced me either…just you. So show them the real Serena Snow and not the one the Capital tried to make you into, alright?"

I bit down on my lower lip and nodded. "Okay."

Gale gave my chin a little flick. "Good, and I think…you should wear…" He goes over to the closest and stared a second before pulling on my black dress from the Reaping. "This one. You looked really beautiful in it."

"Oh, really? You noticed what I was wearing that day? I thought you were too busy blinding hating me."

Gale shrugged. "I did hate you…doesn't mean I can't appreciate a pretty girl when I see one." He threw the dress on the bed next to me. "How are you going to play it today? Are you going to be the quiet Serena or Leader Serena, taking charge of two kids in the arena."

"I thought you said to just be myself."

"You have many different versions of yourself. I've seen them all in the last two weeks. But you can't just go up there and not know which Serena you are going to let come out."

"I guess I haven't thought about it." I said honestly.

"Well let's do that over a cup of coffee, okay?" Gale smiled down at me before grabbing my hand and leading me down the hall to the kitchen. I sat down at the table while he went to get two cups filled with the steaming liquid. He sat in the chair across from mine and we began to brainstorm.

"I think you should play it cool, like you are above these games. Everyone else will be nervous because they have to talk to the cameras but you have the advantage of already being used to it." He paused, shrugging. "It's just a thought but I think it might work."

"Yeah, yeah. It might." I rubbed my forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

"What is it?" Gale asked.

I looked up at him and sighed. "I…I can't do this, Gale."

"Play it cool? We can try something else-"

"Any of it!" I lashed out, knocking over my coffee mug in the process. I jumped when I heard the thing crash against the floor and sprang to my feet a moment later to pick it up.

Brown liquid pooled around the base of the table and I went to get a towel, placing the cup on the counter as I went. As I cleaned, Gale watched me, studied me. His eyes bore a hole into the back of my neck and I was becoming more with frazzled with each passing moment.

I finally cleaned up the last of the coffee from the floor and flung the sopping wet rag into the sink before falling back into my chair. I felt like I was about to collapse because of the mixture of fear and anxiety when Gale grabbed my hands, forcing me to look up at him.

"You're scared. I understand that. I'm scared as hell too." He pressed his hands harder into mine. "But you can't fall apart now, you got me? We can't afford that."

I nodded, knowing he is right. Out of all the days I could have chosen to have a mental breakdown today would not be the right one. Today was the day where the world would watching me the closest and it wouldn't look very comforting when I was up there hyperventilating. I wouldn't pick the nervous wreck to bet on if it were me.

"It will be alright."

"How?" I asked.

"I don't know. It just will. I promise you that."

The look in Gale's eyes told me he was lying, that he knew he couldn't promise me everything was going to be just fine. He wanted to offer me peace of mind, he wanted to give me my freedom, but he couldn't. I was stuck in this place between death and life with only the interviews standing in between.

This situation—it wasn't fine, but it was, in fact, happening no matter what I do or what Gale promised.

I got up from the table and retreated back to my room to pull myself together and begin the process of getting ready for the integration.

* * *

Several hours later and I was standing in line,wearing the same black dress from the Reaping and my auburn hair was straightened and cascading down almost to my elbows. I was with the other Tributes too who were waiting their turn to talk with Caesar Flickerman. He was asking the questions one of the rebels had written down for him on notecards; they were things that didn't really matter to the competition. They were things like "What has your life been like since the Revolution?" and "What have you learned from the changes in government?". They were questions meant to turn people against us and make them love their new lives even more.

I was going to be the last girl to be interviewed but the eighteen-year-old boys, including Micah and one of his friends whose name I found out to be Trey, would be after me this afternoon. We'd be waiting here for a long while, watching the little, dingy monitor as Tribute after Tribute passed that stage.

The littlest children were scared, barely able to answer Caesar's questions. Thankfully the man understood this problem and helped them out the best he could and left them with only having to answer with a yes or a no. Both Neva and Lawson struggled with the cameras and questions, leaving me feeling sorry for them and wishing I could help in some way. They are quiet kids that never had the chance to be properly deducted into society. It was understandable that they did not have the most eloquence during the interview process.

As the ages went up, the kids became more and more unpredictable with how they were react to the questions. Some still remained scared while others, like Tyus, were defiant and simply refused to answer a single question. He got escorted off the stage and beaten—not enough to affect his chances in the arena, but enough to teach him a lesson—once he left the stage. I wanted to go and help him too but there was nothing I could do. I had no power, especially not here under the watchful eyes of the cameras and even larger number of guards.

After the episode with Tyus, we saw others who were confident that they would win, taking the angle that previous Tributes from the Districts had. I suppose there was no right way to play it since no one was really the favorite for the Games. The different angles just made me wonder whom people would route for.

We had the loveable children, the oblivious socialites, and the aspiring warriors. So, who would it be? Who would win the hearts of the millions of rebels who wanted all the Capitol scum dead?

I guessed the answer would be revealed soon enough, once we were in the arena. The line was getting shorter and shorter and I could feel my hands begin to shake and clam up. Gale was standing against the wall opposite me and I could feel his eyes directed towards me every so often, concerned, but I was to preoccupied with my own thoughts to worry about him worrying about me.

Soon enough, I was next in line to take the stage. Had twenty-two Tributes really gone before me already? It seemed too soon.

The next thing I knew, I felt Gale's hand on my elbow as I was ushered forward and through the doors. We were quiet as we waited in the wing of the stage as a girl, her name was Silver I believe, said her goodbyes to Caesar. I could feel the shaking in my hands move throughout my entire body and then I was trembling uncontrollably.

"And now, Ladies and Gentleman, please help me in welcoming a dear friend of mine—Serena Snow!" Caesar gestured over to me and I felt like I was going to be sick.

"Good luck." Gale whispered in my ear before giving me a push onto the stage.

I half stumbled, half jogged out in front of the audience and walked over to Caesar as confidently as I could, trying to ignore the fact that next to no one decided to welcome me to the stage. In that moment I decided that I wasn't going to pay any attention to them, the people in the audience; this was going to be a conversation between an old friend and me. My eyes stayed on Flickerman and I smiled gently at the man.

Once I reached him, I wrapped my arms around Caesar, giving him a quick hug before sitting down in the vacant seat set before the audience. Everyone before me in the auditorium had eyes clouded with judgment and loathing as they stared up at me. I tried my best not to shift in my seat under their gaze; not only would my mother have chastised me for it but I feared Gale would too.

I coached myself to stay focused on Flickerman.

Caesar sat down and gave me a small smile before folding his hands in his lap. He sighed as he studied me with sad eyes. "Serena Snow, it has been a long while since we have been able to chat. How are you?"

I smiled back at him. "I hate to say it, Caesar, but I have been better."

He nodded before looking down at his notecards. The man's face fell even more as he began to read what the rebels were feeding him. "Is that because you are no longer living in a mansion and are confined to a lowly Tribute penthouse?" The man, who had never been forced to read a notecard before in his career until this year, looked up and set me with a sympathetic glance.

I tilted my head. "Of course not. It's because I along with the other Tributes will be forced to fight for our lives come tomorrow when we enter the arena."

"Oh, surely that is the reason. Anyone who is in that position would not be very excited to say the least, am I right?" The man turned to the audience and from the corner of my eye I could see some of them nod. Caesar looked down at his notecards.

"Now, Serena, since we have started the process of these Hunger Games you have had quite the eventful couple of weeks. Care to tell us about some of the things that have happened to you?"

"Do you mean the part where I was actually shot or the time I was _almost_ shot again in the training room?" The crowd partly chuckled, partly gasped while Caesar half-heartedly nodded. "Well either people think I will win these games and they have placed a bet on someone else or…or I am to blame for everything that has ever gone wrong in Panem, Caesar, which would be quite a big accomplishment on my part. Either reason doesn't warrant a murder in my opinion."

"What about the murders that your grandfather ordered!? What about the lives of our children that were lost!?" A woman in the crowd was standing, crying, and shouting up at me. I could see Gale step onto the stage and stand in the corner; his presence gave me more courage to speak up.

"Care to answer?" Flickerman asks.

I nodded. "What my grandfather did was inexcusable…but we, here, in this room, we can learn from his mistakes. We shouldn't repeat him. You lost a child? That is terrible and I am so sorry for what happened to your family. But why seek revenge by shedding more blood? By killing other women's children?" I shook my head. "You think you will feel better when this over but you won't. The pain will still be there…there will just be twenty-three dead children to add to the list of those who have already been lost because of some seventy-five year old rebellion that doesn't even matter to us anymore."

The woman stared at me for a second more before sitting back down in her chair and silently crying to herself. I looked in her direction for one more second before turning back to Caesar. "That was a touching answer. Very well said, my dear." He paused, flipping his notecard. One more sigh escaped his lips. "Now, I just have one more question to ask you before we part…can you tell us about the allies that you have made these past few weeks of training? I'm sure the ties that you have formed have greatly aided in your ability to score a nine for your training score."

I genuinely smiled, happy to be able to praise my friends who were too nervous to do it for themselves. "Absolutely. They are two twelve year olds and they are so very talented—"

"No, that is not who I was referring to, dear." His face looked more sympathetic than ever and I knew he was about to say something that he does not want to. "I'm talking about your _special _alliance. The one of a romantic nature."

Murmurs and whispers began to creep around the auditorium as people began to wonder who Flickerman was talking about. I went ridged and forced myself not to look back at Gale who was only feet behind me.

"I'm sorry, I have no idea what you are talking about." My throat was as dry as sandpaper as the words escaped.

_This was it, this was when Mavrick chose to strike. _

Caesar shifted in his chair uncomfortably as he looked down at his notecard again, reading quickly. "We have been information that you have been involved in a relationship with…" He paused, hesitant. But we both knew he had to say it; if he didn't then he would be dead. "You are involved in a romantic relationship with Gale Hawthorne."

Gasps and cries of outrage rang throughout the theater. People were confused. People were angry.

I glanced back at Gale who looked like he wasn't even breathing. His hands were balled into fists and his jaw was clenched. The man seemed to be at a loss for what to do for the first time.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Caesar asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

I opened my mouth to say something but there was nothing really to say. If I denied it they wouldn't believe me and if I confirmed it they would crucify Gale. I couldn't win this battle.

Instead, I just stood up and smiled down at my host. "I'm going to say thank you for your time, Caesar."

I curtsied to the audience before turning around and walking back the way I came, towards Gale. The man still seemed a little stunned and I wasn't sure he would be able to move off the stage; I was afraid to touch him and confirm what Caesar had announced. Thankfully, a second later I saw Rory run onto the stage and take the spot next to Gale. I smiled at the boy as I walked past the two and Rory proceeded to pull his brother off the stage with him.

I opened the door to the bright white hallway where Trey and Micah waited with a couple of security guards. They were all staring. Micah wore a smirk on his face that showed he was going to use this new development against me.

"You always had a soft spot for the District scum, didn't you Snow?" He laughed and I wanted nothing more than to hit him. In fact, I thought I might as well. Nothing about this night could get any worse, after all.

I started towards him, about to attack, when I felt a blow across the side of my face. I fell to the ground from the impact and my vision blurred. My mind was fuzzy and I couldn't comprehend what happened at first. Instinctively, my hand went up to the side of my head to check both my face for blood and also to make the spinning stop. I looked up and saw Gale yelling at one of the guards who was watching Micah and Trey. He gripped a nightstick tightly in his fist and looked like he was about to use it again.

Rory came over, hovering over me but not daring to help me.

"What the hell do you think you are doing!?" Gale roared.

"She was going to attack the other Tribute." The guard smirked knowingly.

Gale scoffed. "So, you had to attack her? What you couldn't stop a ninety pound girl by yourself?" He paused, rubbing his hand over his face.

"What do you care if she's hurt, Hawthorne? I mean, what they are saying about the two of you isn't true, right? So who gives a shit if the Capitol princess has broken that pretty face of hers?" The smirk grew as the guard continued to talk.

Gale's jaw was clenched again and Rory's fists were balled tightly. He was worried that his brother would start something, that much was obvious. But I knew better. I knew Gale wouldn't risk it. Not tonight. I stood up and placed a gentle hand on Rory's back, trying to calm him.

The elder of the Hawthorne brothers took a deep breath before shaking his head. "You know, Laswell, it's people like you who made the Capitol think we are all barbarians…because you truly are the lowest of the low."

Gale turned around, nodded his head in my and Rory's direction, and began walking. Rory and I followed him to the elevator, waiting quietly for it to arrive before stepping in. Once the doors closed, Gale turned to me and took my face in his hands.

"Are you alright? Let me see it." He rubbed his thumb over my cheekbone and I winced.

"I'm fine, really." I said and tried to pull away but he wouldn't let me.

"Don't lie to me." He said sternly. "How are you doing?"

I pursed my lips. "I'm going into the arena tomorrow, Gale. They didn't do this to hurt me...They did this to hurt you."

Gale dropped his hands then and turned away from me. He crossed his arms tightly across his chest and was silent the rest of the ride. We reached the penthouse and I stepped out, followed by Rory, but Gale didn't come right away. The younger Hawthorne shook his head before looking my direction.

"I'll go get you some ice for that cheek." He said.

"Thanks."

I turned my attention back to Gale who finally emerged from the elevator and he looked not at all willing to talk. He walked right past me and down the hall, towards his room. Several seconds later the door slammed. I thought about going after him but decided against it. Instead, I went into the kitchen and sat on the counter.

Rory handed me the cloth full of ice and I placed it against my cheek, wincing slightly against the shock of cold and pain.

"Do all men know how to hit like this or is it just something they taught in the Districts?" I asked through gritted teeth.

Then, once the words came out, I instantly regretted it. "I'm sorry, that wasn't very kind. I didn't mean it like that."

Rory shook his head. "It's fine. You're upset. I get it." He nodded to my face. "Keep that ice on there. You don't want a swollen cheek for your first day in the arena."

"I think that is the least of my worries right now."

"They don't have any proof, Serena. Right now the public is just going off of talk."

"They'll believe the worst though, won't they? Because they hate me so much."

Rory shrugged. "Maybe but they respect Gale. Perhaps they will believe in him."

"Believe in me for what?" I spun then and saw Gale leaning against the hallway wall. His arms were crossed and his face looked far too calm for my liking. On the emotional scale, Gale was rational somewhere between relaxed and furious; if he was acting on one of the two extremes something seemed to be seriously wrong or was about to become that way.

My bodyguard pushed himself off the way and strode over to us, taking the ice off my cheek to check on the swelling before replacing it.

"Believe in you…believe it what you do and what you stand for." Rory answered. "They wouldn't believe that you would actually be…" Rory trailed off, looking down in embarrassment from what he was implying.

"That you would actually be in a relationship with me." I finished for him. "He thinks you'll be okay, that they won't believe it, and nothing will happen to you."

"Once the two of you are separated there should be no trouble. All should be settled once Serena is in the arena." Rory explained in such a logical manner that it even made sense to me. It really didn't come off as sounding like 'once Serena is dead they won't even think to punish you for what you have done, Gale'.

It was just the facts.

Gale half nodded, half shrugged. "Things will be okay, then, but they'll get worse."

I raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? Why are they going to get worse? Because we are going to start dying off in the arena?"

Gale shook his head calmly, slowly. "No, because I'm going to get you out."

I couldn't help but laugh nervously at Gale's words. They were so bizarre, so crazy to hear. My bodyguard thought he was going to get us all out of the arena; it didn't seem possible, more like wishful thinking.

"Serena, listen to me." Gale grabbed my shoulders firmly and the calm exterior melted away. "What is happening to you and the others is wrong. It's not justice, it's revenge. This new Panem the Districts are building isn't right… It isn't any better. We both know it! It has to be stopped, starting with this. I can't just sit by and let it happen! I-I can't."

_He was serious. Oh my gosh, he was more serious than he had ever been. _

"And how exactly do you plan on stopping this, Gale? The regulators don't trust you any more, they won't listen." I wasn't sure what kind of plan he had hatched but I knew something was going through his mind. Through his gray eyes, I could see the wheels in his mind turning.

"I'm going to get someone they will listen to." He explained.

"And who is that?"

His face fell slightly as he said her name. "Katniss Everdeen. I'm going to go back to Twelve and I'm getting Katniss Everdeen."

* * *

**I hope you guys enjoyed it! Please tell me what you thought if you feel inspired to! Hopefully the wait for the next chapter won't be so long. **

**Thanks for reading!**


End file.
